For many years, Lee and his shell corporate affiliates — Lee Oil Company, Inc., Whitesville Producing Corporation, Whitesville Production Corp., Allegro Oil & Gas Inc., and Allegro Investments Corporation — owned or operated hundreds of oil wells in Steuben and Cattaraugus counties. These unlawful operations were the subject of numerous enforcement actions brought by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and DEC. After failing to follow environmental laws and properly plug more than 400 of the wells, OAG and DEC filed a lawsuit against Lee and his companies to force them to comply including properly plugging their wells, as well as to pay penalties for their longstanding and flagrant violations.