Pilot Flying J CEO denies any involvement in the company’s schemes to cheat customers out of savings.
Jimmy Haslam, CEO of Pilot Flying J and owner of the Cleveland Browns, has been subpoenaed to testify in a civil lawsuit against the Pilot Flying J chain, which Haslam owns in conjunction with his brother Bill Haslam, who is governor of Tennessee.
According to a report from Associated Press, Jimmy Haslam’s attorney has appealed the order for Haslam to testify against Pilot Flying J in the suit. An Alabama judge ordered that Haslam appear for disposition on May 11 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Mobile, Ala.-based Wright Transportation is one of many companies suing Pilot Flying J in connection with a scheme to cheat customers out of discounts and rebates, an allegation to which 10 former Pilot employees have pleaded guilty, Associated Press reported. Several other former Pilot employees, along with the company’s former president, face trial next year in federal court.
Associated Press reported that the company’s scheme was discovered in April 2013, after its headquarters was raided by federal agents, and the company has already paid a $92 million penalty to the government and another $85 million to settle claims with 5,500 trucking companies in a class-action lawsuit.
According to Associated Press, Jimmy Haslam denied having previous knowledge of the alleged fraud. He also denies any personal wrongdoing.