However, don't be surprised if the independent counsel concludes that Jimmy Haslam and the corporation's board of directors had no knowledge that these manual rebates were being manipulated around the corner from Jimmy Haslam's office and Mike Hazelwood's office on the top floor of the Pilot offices there off Lonas Road.

The independent counsel would be the corporation's best witness as none of the employees, in my opinion, particularly those individuals identified in the FBI search warrant affidavit, will have the necessary credibility to effectively testify on behalf of the corporation and you never know if any of those individuals may cooperate with the federal government in exchange for some type of immunity or other agreement to not prosecute them for any allegations which may be brought.

Probably a bad day for some of the individuals that work at Pilot HQ, the Special Counsel is coming to down and it's not Dennis Francis or Don Bosch.

I call it "lawyerin' up".

Brad Martin served on the board of directors with Jimmy Haslam for years at First Tennessee along with Robert Carter, Co-CEO, chief CIO (number 2 in command) out at FedEx and they all own property out in the "homes" at Blackberry Farm in Blount County with the Alexanders and a number of others, including Big Jim, although most of the property is in his wife's name. Brad runs his Blackberry Farm property under RBM Mountain, LLC. Brad Martin serves on the board of FedEx thus the involvement of Big Fred in the Pilot business and the presence of Robert Carter. Of course, Big Fred would not want to sully himself with federal investigations and the such, so the task is picked up for the Pilot board by Brad Martin. One of FedEx's primary outside law firms for technology/patent litigation (remember Robert Carter?) is a D.C. firm known as Steptoe & Johnson from which the special investigator hails from.

Robert Carter and Steve Sadove serve as members of the board of directors for Saks Incorporated where Brad Martin is a retired director and CEO, Sadove also serving with Brad Martin as a board of directors member for Ruby Tuesdays.

Governor Haslam used to work for Brad Martin back in the days of Saks. Brad Martin and Jimmy Haslam also served on the board for Ruby Tuesdays and Dillards, until Jimmy termed out at Dillard and resigned from Ruby Tuesdays last year. Jimmy resigned from the board at First Tennessee and they appointed, John Compton to the board, wonder how that happened.

Jimmy Haslam was recently appointed to the board of directors for the Cleveland Clinic. Not sure how a major healthcare and research institution would react to one of their board members being investigated by the FBI and the IRS.

Thus the need for all of the extra steps and extra movements to "clear" not only Jimmy Haslam form the knowledge of any wrongdoing but to also clear the board of directors of any knowledge of wrongdoing as such would look bad on their other ongoing directorships and their corporate "persona" in the eyes of the public and the federal government.

All of this is leading to the question of who will be left twisting in the wind. That Freeman guy likely has a target on his back, for one.

of those individuals who were suspended from work (with pay, they're not going to turn them to the government's side that quickly)or those individuals who were identified in the FBI transcripts of the recordings and who may be identified in other documents/recordings/information in the possession of the FBI/IRS, you can either pull the company line and run the risk that you could get left twisting in the wind or you can cooperate with the federal government in exchange for your testimony and an agreement not to prosecute you for certain specified crimes. It is a very difficult decision for a number of Pilot employees and a very difficult business environment for a number of employees still on the job that had nothing to do with this fiasco.

This guy has a rogues gallery of clients:

WorldCom CEO, Bernard Ebbers - 25 years
Enron Accounting Officer, Richard Causey - 5 to 7 years
CEO of Duane Reade, Anthony Cuti - 3 years
President of Monster.com, James Treacy - 2 years
The Republic of Kazakhstan ?! - Yikes

Not sure I'd want to add my name to Mr. Weingarten's client list.

.. hiring Cheney to investigate the WMD scandal.

Cleveland report seen on Knoxnews; (link...)

Miracles never cease:

(link...)