Jimmy Haslam apologizes to Cleveland Browns fans while speaking at the Northeastern Ohio Chapter of the National Football Foundation's 25th annual scholar-athlete banquet.

"Haslam admitted he has "probably talked to literally 250 to 300 trucking companies in the last three weeks".

It was not clear how many of those companies alleged they were cheated and Haslam declined to answer questions."

An Alabama trucking company is suing Pilot Flying J for "breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and deceit."

Savannah, Ga. attorney Mark Tate told 5 On Your Side chief investigator Ron Regan, "I can confirm and I am pleased that the Freeh group is supplying the victims of the apparent Haslam scheme with support they need to hold Haslam and his company fully accountable."

...

Tate referenced a full-page ad that ran recently in Tennessee newspapers showing civic and political leaders and their support for Haslam.

"This case will not be decided by full-page ads in the newspaper," he said.

I saw that ad. Kind of funny. Wonder who solicited the participants.

From yesterday: Pilot CEO to answer trucking execs questions, Haslam will speak at Indiana seminar

Seems like the first rule of damage control PR should be to not keep dragging your problems back into headlines after the initial dust settles.

Here's today's report on what he said, which wasn't much:

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Pilot Flying J's Jimmy Haslam says he absolutely had no knowledge of fuel rebate cheating by sales managers

Haslam initially was not on the agenda for the two-day seminar held by Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary in Indianapolis.

But he accepted the firm's invitation to address trucking officials about claims that Pilot Flying J, the nation's biggest diesel fuel retailer, cheated customers out of rebates on bulk fuel purchases.

But they've been out of their league for a number of years, they've just been able to say Pilot or Haslam and people just get out of the way.

They'll do a good job polluting the potential jury pool here in Knoxville and they'll end up pulling up a bunch of people from the Tri Cities or from Chattanooga which won't be as familiar with the Haslam charitable purposes and givings over the years.

Jim Bob has sort of painted himself into a box, no knowledge means no knowledge and if just one of the underlings that was clobbered by the bus he has been thrown under remembers otherwise or has documents showing Haslam was at the meeting or was aware of the manipulations by the "inside girls", it could get real ugly real fast.

A number of Haslam families have lived quite large our of this truck stop empire, many local charities and non profits have survived on the givings of these individuals, but in the long run, Knoxville would be better off if you loosend the Haslam grip on local politics, local banking,UT, and local government and let more people into the process, perhaps getting rid of the incompetent baffoons like Mike Edwards (Jimmy Haslam is most influential person in his life, so he says). When the Butchers were pushed out of the way, Knoxville experienced a business funk for 10 years, but it bounced back, could have come back bigger and faster, but there was no business leadership in the city or county government, Victor Ashe and Dwight Kessel kept trying to piss all over each other. Push the Haslams out of the way, dissolve the SuperChamber and the Development Corporation, consolidate the city under the county governemnt strucure (rather than the other way around) and force local business/government leadership to recruit and relocate business and industry to Knoxville and Knox County. Worked in Nashville and worked in Memphis, both cities have dynamic economies, plenty of publicly held businesses, plenty of money in circulation, and public school systems which are in the bottom of the toilet.

The next generation of leaders and potential businesses can't get to Knoxville, can't get a fair shake, they are blocked at every turn by breathtaking incompentcy and a status quo do nothing different mindset (nothing new till 2022), and it's not 1970 anymore.

Today's business section front page headline: "Haslam: I was unaware"

The article by "News Sentinel staff" has one new bit of information I hadn't heard (but maybe I just missed it) which is that Pilot has made "adjustments" to 250 accounts since the raid and the subsequent revelations. That's a lot more than the handful mentioned in the search warrant affidavit or the ones who have already filed lawsuits.

A couple of things not mentioned in the article but previously reported in the Cleveland paper are that Haslam had not planned to attend the seminar but was invited so he went. The other thing the article doesn't mention is that it was a trucking industry legal seminar, and the agenda included topics such as "Transportation Class Action Litigation" and "Common Transportation Transactions Issues and Update" among others.

Reports of a seventh lawsuit, this time a Federal lawsuit in Florida also seeking class action status.

More info on the Florida lawsuit...

although the involvement of Louis Freeh's team will bring resources to the table to help shore up some of the investigation/development of the case, but none of the multi million dollar war chests that some of the high stakes class action firms have at their disposal.

The civil cases will be more of a nuisance like that neighbors dog with than high pitch yipping barak, but Pilot will have already spent several million dollars shutting up the most abused manual rebate customers.

The crap shoot will be the long list of underlings involved in alleged scam, one of them (potentially several of them) will need the immunity to protect their family and to protect what little career they have left in the trucking/fuel service industry.

If Haslam/Ingram/Moxley didn't know what the FBI/IRS were doing in the office April 15, they may not have a clue how easily and effortlessly some low level employees with a ton of information, a ton of debt, and a ton of resentment can suddenly become the federal government's best witness. Some of these manual billed customers will have some proof of their own such that the company and/or the company's invovled executives may have all types of issues to deal with.

Cleveland Plain Dealer profiles the prosecutors...

Mississippi man files 8th lawsuit.

Here we go!

An Alabama trucking company has joined about a dozen other transportation firms and filed suit against Pilot Flying J

The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper is having a little fun at Haslam's expense, with digs at Jim Brown.

Number 32's extensive experience dealing with gangs and prisoners should come in handy with the ongoing Federal fraud investigation of Pilot Flying J. Haslam can turn to the Hall of Fame back for tips on outrunning the Feds.

Ohio firm files suit charging fraud by Pilot Flying J

ATMs at truck stops are another ripoff for small companies and drivers. Many small companies and drivers are only paid by debit cards. The cards can ONLY be used at truck stops and the fees are about $20 per withdrawal. I believe the the max withdrawal is $200. Anyone know who owns the ATM company?

The plot thickens and the caldron boils. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble:

(link...)

Heavy hitting sports column knocks the Haslam ball right out of the park:

(link...)

Wonder how the governor was involved in the placement of his former boss as the President of the University of Memphis?

Really wouldn't want these types of people involved with higher education in any shape, manner, or form, it's already very, very expensive anyway.

Send them all to jail.

(link...)

Attorneys for Paul Otto, who is an independent truck owner and operator for Morehouse Truck Line, filed suit Friday in Middle Tennessee District Court.

It would appear not all drivers operating for Morehouse Truck Line are as "happy with the outcome" as was Morehouse when they received the late payment from Pilot Flying J.

Leland Wykoff commenting at the KNS seems to know where the bodies are buried.

This looks more like RICO every day. It looks like Brad Martin invented this scheme at Saks and brought it to Pilot. Bringing Martin in to be the Inspector General of this mess is the single biggest mistake the Haslam's have ever made. I don't see how Jimmy avoids prison time after this blunder. And even more amazing is that Bill may be a one term Governor because of this over-confident mistake from hell. How stupid and arrogant can they be?

Moxley Carmichael pissed the Feds off early on. That is why the Feds made public the affidavit. They rarely do that. The price of this kind of hubris is jail. Pilot skimmed maybe $50 million over the years. Want to bet this will cost Pilot $300 million, Jimmy jail time and losing the Brown, and Bill his reelection?

lelandwykoff#487736 writes:
Brad Martin had plenty of experience with this particular fraud.

The reported episode was not his first flirtation with cheating vendors.

Proffitt's/Saks had done so before.

The SEC fraud case had far reaching implications, including contributing to the bankruptcy of at least one supplier:

(link...)

The beginnings of the Pilot contract w/KCSO were pretty interesting, iirc, but too steeped in local politics for an out-of-town news organization to get hold of, I suspect. As I recall, that was the harbinger of detente between the business establishment and Tim Hutchison. Things had gotten pretty bad after Hutch engineered Big Jim getting booted off the PBA board.

A Celebrity Pumper told me it was kind of galling to see a non-LEO KCSO employee pull into a Pilot and fill their unmarked car up with high-test gasoline (which it didn't need).

interim president with Shirley Raines retiring at the end of June.

Her retirement was announced April 15. Brad Martin was named interim on April 16, to be effective July 1.

Martin announced April 3 he would not stand for re-election to the Dillard's board of directors, he had other full time commitments. Board of Regents met March 29 in Franklin, it was not on the agenda, but you can do the math and figure out if a sunshine law was broken the time lines can't and don't add up.

Do you really want this guy in charge of an academic institution. Look how well Lamar Alexander did for the University of Tennessee, seriously, ask some University employees where the university's wayward tenure started and it started with Lamar Alexander and you know who was instrumental in seeing him named to that position until Bush 41 could appoint him to be the Secretary of Education.

Looks like an easy story to investigate, these guys all hang out on West Miller's Cove Road in Walland, not hard to find, assuming the KNS has journalists interested in being journalists, but again, it might be best left to the heavyweights with the Tennessean (Gannett)or the Cleveland Plain Dealer (S.I. Newhouse)where they are not worried about unloading 25,000 papers on Fridays to people who stop for a cup of coffee, a cold beer, a pack of cigaretes, or a hand full of lottery tickets at their favorite Pilot store.

The KNS might have gotten away with claiming that its coverage of the biggest local business story in decades has been aggressive and thorough if it weren't for the fact that in this instance, the KNS has actual competition against which readers can measure KNS performance: the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. We've been a one newsopolis town for so long now that none of us can remember seeing another daily go head to head with the Sentinel's newsroom management on a major and developing local story. But now that we are getting to watch these two metro daily newsrooms hustle
for the same story, week after week, there is a very clear difference.

The KNS has been served up what every real reporter and editor dreams of for his or her entire career: a truly big story with plenty of meaty material to investigate in a huge variety of ways. This is a story that could have won the KNS a Pulitzer, and it landed right in their laps. But instead, we have flaccid, reactionary reporting that basically just serves up whatever new legal documents are released publicly as this thing rolls forward. It's pathetic and embarrassing, and considering the huge financial stake that Pilot Flying J has in the KNS bottom line (buying up tens of thousands of copies of the newspaper every single week), as well as the fact that the same local PR firm represents both the newspaper and the corporation it should be investigating, the state of KNS coverage isn't just bad, it's scary.

Plain Dealer: Lawyers for one of the plaintiffs have requested that all the cases be consolidated and moved to Cleveland.

Josh Flory attempts to track down the million dollar mystery plane...

(link...)

This is the plane that brought Charlie Strong and Butch Jones to Knoxville last year.

The suit accuses Pilot, the Haslam family, and members of the Pilot sales staff of defrauding the company of money it was supposed to receive through rebates it earned by using Pilot Flying J travel plazas to fill its trucks. The suit also alleges the Haslams gave the sales team its blessing to execute the fraud against companies.

15th company to file against Pilot Flying J. Twelve or more lawsuits. Attorneys for an Ohio trucking company are looking to have some/all court cases handled in Ohio, U.S. District court in Cleveland.

I'm not sure Haslam is as well liked in Cleveland as much as he is idolized and worshiped by the people in Knoxville, particularly those who owe their position in life, their economic success, their salary, their substanance to Haslam's midas touch on local government, politics, and financial guaranty/support.

Cleveland is also the North American base of operations for BP, a gasoline competitor of Pilot, the same BP which at one time owned Truckstops of America (still based in Cleveland), the only real diesel fuel competitor of Pilot Travel Centers, other than Luv's Truck Stops.

A Cleveland jury could be composed of the unrefined, the dolts, the unsophisticated (we'll maybe I ain't) and the very types of people mentioned on the recordings the FBI has. Also, a Cleveland judge and a Cleveland jury might expect more from the man who owns the Browns.

Maybe Ingram and Moxley can open an office in Cleveland, Ohio and star spinning up there too.

It ain't right to screw one customer, or fun to be sued by one customer. But given the Fed's allegations in the warrant, it seems that 15 lawsuits out of more than 2,000 trucking customers seems unexpectedly small.

It also seems that the last of the suits has almost certainly not been filed.

The Plain Dealer has amended the Brad Martin/Pilot Flying J story with a correction:

(link...)

Can you say "Moxley-Charmichael" children?

Betsy Phillips breaks down the org chart and works her way up the food chain over at the Nashville Scene...

The Pilot Flying J investigation is homing in on the C-suite. Senior management's handpicked liaison to the rebate fraud operators yesterday.

"The defendant, JAMES S. STINNETT, was employed in Pilot's direct sales
division since before 2008 and through the later half of 2011 as a regional sales manager in thesoutheastern region. In the latter half of 2011, Pilot promoted the defendant, JAMES S. STINNETT, to a newly created position in which the defendant, JAMES S. STINNETT, would assist Pilot senior management on matters relating to the operation of the direct sales division...
"It was part of the conspiracy that during an October 25, 2012 business meeting that involved Pilot senior management and direct sales division vice presidents and directors, which the defendant, JAMES S. STINNETT, attended, it was agreed among those present that Pilot's national accounts sales director would teach Pilot's sales managers and account
representatives manual rebate practices during Pilot's annual sales training event at Pilot headquarters planned for November 2012."
--Federal Bill of information charging Jay Stinnett with fraud

It's getting awfully quiet. No new press conferences, etc. I got a feeling everyone who is someone in all this knows they can't beat the hand that the feds have played and they're looking at how to get away with the least amount of prison time.

Used to be, I've heard, that if you wanted to run for office in K-town you needed to visit Big Jim because not only might he donate but other business people and potential donors would be watching ready to follow his lead.

Wonder if this will change any of that?

Pilot exec: Senior management was aware of rebate scheme

While the Knoxville News Sentinel and most of the local media, insist there is nothing going on here, nothing to see, nothing to report, the television stations barely mentioned three (3) additional plea agreement and resulting convictions earlier this week.

It is painful to watch media outlets deliberately ignore the details of stories which could potentially transform the economic and political powerhold of the community and possibly the state.

and probably throughout the Scripps Newspaper empire. This is a story unfolding right in front of them (no additional costs/expenses/airfare/hotels)and they refuse to provide any critical analysis, any background, any ongoing investigative reporting, and absolutely no forwarding looking consideration.

What would Knoxville look like in a world where Pilot was fully owned by CVC or another private equity entity with no local ownership?

What would Knoxville look like if Pilot were subjected to DOJ forced divestitute of 1/3 of their locations across the country as a part of any settlement with the government?

Tennessee's governor is still an owner of Pilot Corporation which is a member of Pilot Travel Centers, LLC, he sat on the board of Pilot Travel Centers through 2004, why no hard questions to him about this business that he owns?

5 individuals have pled guilty to federal crimes? Are these individuals still on the company's payroll? Pretty easy question that nobody wants to ask.

When you see a media property completely stick their head in the sand on a story which garners a lot of attention regionally and in Cleveland where the corresponding ownership owns an NFL franchise, potentially a national sports/business story, you realize how bad the bias and lack of objectivity is at KNS.

Well, budget cuts didn't seem to inhibit the KNS from declaring it open season on anything having to do with Burchett.

KNS is just playing favorites. I hope this latest scandal does them all in. It would be just deserts.

You people do realize that when all this is said and done, the last bit of credibility left, that last fight to retain any semblance of former power will occur in K-town? It will be grueling, earth changing for some, entertaining for others.

But make no mistake. It will happen, and it is coming. That's what all this is about re KNS and their nonreporting.

Will someone school me on what roll if any does Tennessee's Attorney General and TBI have on the Pilot Flying J investigation or is this reserved for the Feds only? HELP

I saw where WBIR had picked up this story yesterday from the Tennessean, but didn't see anything in the News-Sentinel. I thought they had some kind of reciprocal agreement with the Tennessean?

Pilot Flying J executive says senior management knew of scheme

Stinnett, previously a regional sales manager in the southeastern region for Pilot, had been promoted in 2011 to a new position to advise senior management on operations of the direct sales division, according to the plea agreement.

Stinnett's claim that senior management, who were not named individually, knew of the scheme is the latest evidence that crimes might have been committed at the top levels of the company. A warrant affidavit filed in the days after the raid showed Vice President of Sales John Freeman talking openly about how to carry out the scheme and placed President Mark Hazelwood in the middle of such conversations.

"(Stinnett) knew his actions were dishonest, his actions were done out of loyalty to Pilot for the purpose of increasing the company's profitability and members of Pilot senior management were aware of the rebate reduction scheme," the plea agreement states.

Or, money not rebated.

This is the 16th company to file a lawsuit agains Pilot Flying J.

Pilot’s lawyers have asked that the individual pending cases be put on hold until a special judicial panel meets on July 25 to consider the various consolidation motions.

Paying them back "with interest." Is the interest part new? Haslams are playing this like the nation and other states are Knoxville. They're not. They'd better be careful.

that became un CEO'd when Jimmy came back to run the show after the holidays.

Dude walked away from a career at PepsiCo and a lifestyle built in swanky Weschester County, New York for a federal investigation, people pleading guilty to federal crimes, millions for lawyers, settlements, spin consultants, and the grimy world of diesel fuel, cold beer, snacks, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and rewards cards.

Compton may be the CEO again at the end of this pileup.

Plain Dealer stirring the pot in Cleveland with last week's story about new indictments and revelations.

(link...)

I know newpaper readership is down all over, but I wonder how The Tennessean and Times-Free Press compare? I'm sure they are influenced, but they seem to be far more objective in their news coverage than the KNS, which I feel the leaders have completely compromised by promoting political agendas.

Perhaps a more pertinent question would be whether individuals are spending more or less time gathering and digesting information. An agenda driven media is fighting over various market shares and truth, it would seem, is being sacrificed in the name of not offending a targeted market.

An ancillary issue is that no markets beyond the target are being developed. If it's not U.T. or D-1 related, sports in Knoxville isn't news. If the chamber doesn't approve, business news ceases, Knoxville's social scene is for the wealthy and powerful, etc.

The Knoxville paper makes little headway in connecting with the community at large and that is where the readers are at. You can't do these things without a reasonably sized and motivated staff and this paper doesn't have that.

Chattanooga's reporters seem more aggressive and Nashville appears to have competition within the news-gathering community. Those things help drive a quality paper.

Regardless of whether or not you like/dislike/agree/disagree with the Paula Deen thing, The Food Network, owned by Scripps Networks, took the initial step of not renewing her contract which expires this weekend. We all know the Food Network studios are in New York City, but the executive offices are here in Knoxville. While there may have been other business considerations not associated with her current lawsuit, there are enough Scripps Networks executives in Knoxville, Tennessee that the KNS could have obtained comment from, but the entire non-renewal, on a network that is headquartered in Knoxville, was essentially ignored by the KNS. The KNS puts a bag over their head and ignore news, particularly things in their own backyard and the things on the other side of the Scripps balance sheet.

But Randy Boyd buys the Sevier County minior league baseball team, 48 point font above the fold on page one? Seriously?

All the more reason to cancel your subscription, support those businesses which chose not to advertise in the KNS, and politely suggest that businesses you fraternize they not advertise in the KNS until the news judgment and journalistic ethics improve over there at that place.

Wall Street Journal on Pilot investigation...

Washington Post: Pilot Flying J spokesperson says Haslams' sale of Tennessee Smokies baseball team unrelated to investigation...

All you people complaining about how the TFP is better paper than the KNS should know that they had Victoria Jackson on their editorial page today. I know for a fact the KNS has higher standards than that.

I voted for Bill Haslam for mayor and governor. I found him to be an excellent mayor, and those who know him have told me that he is a very nice man who genuinely seeks to do the right thing in the way he conducts himself. So what has happened since he became governor? This story in The Tennessean is really disturbing, especially the part where he shrugs off the inevitability of "overlapping interests," insisting that the glaring conflict of interest with the Pilot Flying J board member's company seeking a state contract to mine public lands is nothing anyone should care about because he certainly doesn't.

(link...)

This comes on the heels of him putting Pilot Flying J's crisis PR man Tom Ingram on his payroll. Surely Bill Haslam knows how sketchy this all looks. Some of you know him personally; what can he be thinking with these actions?

KNS has looked the other way on DOT's disastrous Henley St bridge project and the 190 dead kids under DCS during the last 2 yeasr. It's as if Haslam is governor, except with the agencies that have problems, and then the buck never stops with the governor; it never gets there.

Arka Logistics, Inc., Illinois, has filed a lawsuit claiming Pilot Flying J broke racketeering laws.

Now is it Obama's fault?

It has been mentioned here, just trying to keep it in this thread.

R&R Transportation, Audubon, Minnesota, has filed suit against Pilot Flying J, etc., in the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. They filed suit after receiving a letter from PFJ along with a check to "cover the fuel rebate shortages."

Townes Trucking, Coffeeville, Mississippi, also sued in federal court in the Southern District of Louisiana, claiming it was defrauded by Pilot Flying J.

An AP article has made the rounds, and been referenced on the blog, regarding Governor Bill Haslam's links to Pilot Flying J.

Tom Ingram, political adviser to the governor, orchestrated Pilot's public response to the FBI raid, and lobbies state government on behalf of other private clients such as the mining company seeking to extract coal from public lands.

Brad Martin, hired Bill Haslam as an executive at Saks Inc. in New York, was named interim president of the University of Memphis, was/is on the Pilot board of directors, was/is a co-owner of the company, was asked to supervise the internal investigation into the FBI allegations.

Mike Loya, president and CEO of the Vitol Group's North and South American operations, is on the Pilot board of directors, Vitol owns the company seeking coal mining permits in the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area near Crossville.

Claude Ramsey, deputy governor, assigned by Governor Haslam to review a request for a federal waiver on gasoline standards after an explosion at the Valero refinery in Memphis, which was Pilot's largest fuel supplier in the area (the waiver was granted). Ramsey is retiring, to spend more time with his wife and kids.

As I mentioned before, settling with victims seems like an admission of guilt. Wonder why their lawyers are letting them do this?

(EDIT: I'm advised that my previous remark about 250 victims was incorrect. 250 is the number of potential victims on manual rebate spreadsheet programs that are being checked by PFJ to see if they are owed any money.)

By paying "victims", Pilot and its executives (particularly the board of managers) can recognize the error and attempt to correct the error, demonstrating some remorse/civil responsibility for the improper payment.

If they don't make the payment, Pilot and its executives (including the board of managers) become heartless, calloused, and deliberate in their efforts to steal from their least sophisticated (guess they don't shop at M.S. McClellan's)customers, further adding fuel to the government's case against them.

Most criminal defense lawyers will take the deliberate and calculated element out of the crime and swap it for contrition and regret/remorse once the true nature of the criminal activity was discovered. It's a little easier sell in front of the jury, although the contrition can be viewed as a tacit acknowledgment of an improper (although not illegal) practice.

Paying victims may cost more on the civil side, but Pilot's got buckets of cash to throw around to solve these claims by the trucking companies and may even have insurance to cover these improper employee business practices.

But the bottom line will be the determination if these actions were orchestrated with a criminal intent (depending on the detail and success of the plan)or were Haslam and Hazelwood just sloppy businessmen (depending on the nature and extent of their knowledge, participation, and actions taken).

Me thinks it is hard to portray an NFL owner as a sloppy businessman, the evidence of executive/board of managers knowledge may be interesting, and the mysterious and inexplicable return to the helm to replace the $3 million dollar a year man before he's been on the job 6 months.

It's hard to keep count. Some lawsuits are federal and some are in state courts.

Fred Woodward, New Hampshire, has filed suit in federal court against Pilot Flying J. The article indicates this is the 16th federal case against Pilot Flying J. WBIR indicates this is the 19th lawsuit against Pilot Flying J.

The suit charges the actions of Pilot staff violated federal racketeering statutes and state consumer protection laws and amounted to mail fraud. It claims victims’ losses exceeded $5 million.

'Anybody know how far back the Feds are digging into the rebate books? When are thdy claiming the fraudulent practices started?

WBIR: 20th Lawsuit filed against Pilot Flying J

Pilot Flying J Ripples

Cleveland TV news station reporting that a grand jury has been convened...

Manuel need not apply for his Diesel rebates.

Triple D Supply, New Mexico, is the 21st company to file a lawsuit against Pilot Flying J. A federal judicial panel will meet July 25th in Portland, Maine to determine if the 17 federal lawsuits will merge into one.

News 5 in Cleveland announced that Pilot has settled scores of class action lawsuits.

The News Sentinel has a headline quoting a Vanderbilt law professor saying Pilot victims are getting a "pretty darn good" deal under the recently proposed settlement.

Read the rest of the story for the rest of the story.

(link...)

It would appear the settlement is tentative. The court has 120+ days to finalize the settlement. Pilot Flying J must submit to an independent audit.

More than 4,000 customers of Pilot, Pilot Travel Centers, Pilot Flying J fall into the settlement class. Pilot says less than 300 customers are owed money. The class action covers a period from January 1, 2008 through July 15, 2013.

A lead attorney for the trucking companies, Don Barrett, said the best estimates he's heard are that Pilot Flying J owes $26 million to $40 million in principal payments to truckers. The final tally could be another 50 percent on top of the fuel shortage bill, Barrett said, once it includes accrued interest, audit and administration costs, and attorneys' fees that under the settlement are capped at $14 million.

Attorneys in Knoxville and Savannah, GA, are not happy with the settlement.

Attorney Drew McElroy, Knoxville, who represents four companies suing Pilot Flying J, etc., calls it a “sad commentary on class action litigation when pundits declare it a good deal to break even with thieves.”

McElroy points out that the estimated payout of $35 million represents less than 11 hours of Pilot revenues. To discourage Pilot and others from engaging in similar misconduct in the future, much greater liability will be needed.

Attorney Mark Tate, Savannah, GA, represents several of the companies suing Pilot Flying J, etc. Tate says, "I don’t believe that it’s proper to settle before we know the depth of the deceit here. There are criminal charges pending. There are grand juries meeting."

under oath and a part of the record in these proceedings.

Now that would be entertaining and would be a real eye opener for people in the Knoxville and East Tennessee community that want to see how the sausage is really made.

Is Edward T. Haslam related to Jimmy or Bill? Edward was VP of Concord EFS Bank in Memphis. Concord was the bank that Pilot used for their Visa MasterCard when they added a surcharge to diesel purchases. The SEC also charged top management at Concord with stock fraud.

Update on depositions...

Plain Dealer:

Documents in Knox County Circuit Court say that Tate plans to take Haslam's deposition at 9 a.m.  Tuesday in a Knoxville law office. The next day, Tate wants to depose Hazelwood at 9 a.m., Freeman at 11 a.m. and Ingram at 2 p.m.

Surprise! Pilot moves to quash deposition...

they're probably trading winks and nods with the judge, there is no reason to not allow the deposition to go forward.

If you have to exercise your 5th amendment rights, there is nothing wrong with doing that other than the fact it will be on videotape, part of a public record, and freely usable by the local media, campaigns next summer, and general fodder for whispers and chuckles at Cherokee County Club.

Rule 30.01: When Depositions May Be Taken.

After commencement of the action, any party may take the testimony of any person, including a party, by deposition upon oral examination. Leave of court, granted with or without notice, must be obtained only if the plaintiff seeks to take a deposition prior to the expiration of 30 days after service of the summons and complaint upon any defendant or service made under Rule 4.05, except that leave is not required (1) if a defendant has served a notice of taking deposition or otherwise sought discovery, or (2) if special notice is given as provided in Rule 30.02(2). The attendance of witnesses may be compelled by subpoena as provided in Rule 45. The deposition of a person confined in prison may be taken only by leave of court on such terms as the court prescribes. [As amended July 1, 1979.]

The Haslams are out of their league here. This isn't the typical political games they're used to.

The Tennessean keeps making the hits.

(link...)

Guess they're a bunch of zealots.

Two more employees in federal court pleading guilty to fraud conspiracy charges.

WATE reports...

(link...)

National Retail Transportation Inc. and Keystone Freight Corp., both of Bergen, N.J., filed racketeering and violation of state consumer protection laws against Pilot Flying J.

Don't think I'd want New Jersey truckers after me.:)

Tennessean: Pilot Flying J plaintiff called 'shell company'

In a related article, Haslam's Louisiana casino deal goes sour

Flashback: Wamp: I'm Not a Gambling Man, But Maybe Haslam Is

NKC Transportation out of Kansas City, MO, filed suit in "Knox County Circuit Court claiming Pilot benefited from inaccurate and fraudulent rebate procedures, while NKC incurred additional debt."

Western Express trucking company, Nashville, TN, "a company featured prominently in a 120-page affidavit filed in federal court by an FBI agent in April" has filed suit in Louisiana against Pilot Flying J "charging that Pilot Flying J cheated it out of $2.5 million in rebates and cost the company more than $73 million in added expenses."

The airplane was just not enough.

Pilot Flying J attempted to avoid responding to a lawsuit asking for discovery. The lawsuit was file April 22, 2013. On August 22, 2013, they were ordered by a judge to respond to the lawsuit by August 30, 2013.

On August 30, 2013, Pilot Flying J's attorneys filed a response claiming two of the trucking companies own them money and another was owed nothing. They asked for the case to be dismissed. "Lawyers for the trucking firms said Friday they intend to pursue the suit and respond to Pilot's claims."

I read in the KNS that Pilot claims it did not intentionally conduct fraud. I didn't know whether to throw up or laugh. The nation is not Knoxville.

The feds aren't scared of Pilot like Knoxville or Nashville are. It should roll over instead of claiming companies owe IT money! Pilot and Jimmy will inevitably lead to the governor's unelection with it's arrogance.

Apparently, the message from Big Jim is that friends can be bought. I guess they can in Knoxville, but for the entire state, come election time, it's going to be a different story. His son Bill and Huffman have been waging an all out war on the middle class values: public education. The rebate story just adds to Bill's middle class opposition.

FST Express,Columbus, OH, filed a federal lawsuit in Ohio alledging "that Pilot secretly withheld diesel fuel discounts that it had agreed to provide." In 2011, FST noticed some billing discrepancies. It is being reported that Pilot subsequently sent them a $22,644.66 check to cover the discrepancies.

The suit further alleged that in recent months, Pilot has tried to conceal its fraud. Specifically, the suit alleged that Spiewak [Pilot regional sales manager based in Ohio] told FST that no one in his territory had any discrepancies, and that only customers who received rebate checks had discrepancies.

“Contrary to Spiewak’s false assertions, (FST) was overcharged and (FST) was not a customer that received rebate checks,” the suit alleged.

EPA's Office of Inspector General is recommending TDOT refund the stimulus funds used for IdleAir type equipment. Their audit found Pilot's Travel Center, White Pine, TN failed to meet the Buy American agreement. EPA-OIG report #13-R-0321

Obama's thugs! SOLYNDRA!!

When is the sentence hearing for ones that pleaded guilty? I thought it was to be in December, did I miss it?