Pilot/J accused of rebate fraud, Millions of $
- Thread starter LDB
- Start date
The IRS didn't show up at PFJ headquarters with the FBI on April 15th because they had nothing better to do that day.
Slo-Ride
Veteran Expediter
The IRS didn't show up at PFJ headquarters with the FBI on April 15th because they had nothing better to do that day.
And what better day to do nothing.
zorry
Veteran Expediter
I don't think I've read anything about possible tax issues .
The IRS could have been fishing. Shorting the carriers doesn't necessarily mean they under reported income.
If accounting irregularities is your specialty, One would think you'd use that in many areas of your business.
They had a good thing going and got greedy.
The IRS could have been fishing. Shorting the carriers doesn't necessarily mean they under reported income.
If accounting irregularities is your specialty, One would think you'd use that in many areas of your business.
They had a good thing going and got greedy.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
I highly doubt there will be any jail time at all. They will settle out of court for millions of dollars although the settlement will not be public. The reason being is if the IRS proves they screwed people out of millions of dollars, that would it be a perfect class action suit for all of the people who lost money. Actually it would be a perfect suit for the attorneys that would be representing those people because those are the folks that would be making the money!
Recent Developments:
Haslam's reaching out to carriers has prompted charges by one carrier that the reaching out is such that it "may may constitute an improper attempt to coerce parties and witnesses under Tennessee law.” Story here
In a recent statement, Pilot Flying J said,
"In addition to placing certain salespeople on administratie leave, Haslam said, his company is taking five basic next steps to address the accusations and the company’s business with carriers moving forward: (1) Auditing all 3,300 contracts with PFJ’s trucking company customers; (2) Placing salespeople on leave; (3) Placing all diesel fuel customers on electronic calculation methods for rebates instead of manual calculation; (4) creating a Chief Compliance Officer position to deal with future issues; and (5) hiring an independent special investigator to “oversee and validate all of our internal inquiries related to the federal investigation.”
Even the National Football League is taking an interest.
NEW YORK -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says he met with Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam on Tuesday about the federal investigation into his family's truck stop chain. Story here
Overdrive magazine has a nice page that organizes the stories as they break.
Haslam's reaching out to carriers has prompted charges by one carrier that the reaching out is such that it "may may constitute an improper attempt to coerce parties and witnesses under Tennessee law.” Story here
In a recent statement, Pilot Flying J said,
"In addition to placing certain salespeople on administratie leave, Haslam said, his company is taking five basic next steps to address the accusations and the company’s business with carriers moving forward: (1) Auditing all 3,300 contracts with PFJ’s trucking company customers; (2) Placing salespeople on leave; (3) Placing all diesel fuel customers on electronic calculation methods for rebates instead of manual calculation; (4) creating a Chief Compliance Officer position to deal with future issues; and (5) hiring an independent special investigator to “oversee and validate all of our internal inquiries related to the federal investigation.”
Even the National Football League is taking an interest.
NEW YORK -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says he met with Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam on Tuesday about the federal investigation into his family's truck stop chain. Story here
Overdrive magazine has a nice page that organizes the stories as they break.
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Hey Jimmy, if your following "five basic next steps" are so basic why are they called next steps and why weren't they implemented years ago, like before the raid, federal charges and lawsuits?
Haslam said, his company is taking five basic next steps to address the accusations and the company’s business with carriers moving forward:
(1) Auditing all 3,300 contracts with PFJ’s trucking company customers;
This is something that Flying Pilot should have been doing annually for their own records, unless of course they knew an audit would reveal wrongful doing. Carriers that were part of FP's rebate program should have been doing their own audits annually and this alleged cheating would not have gone on for as long as it did.
(2) Placing salespeople on leave;
Hopefully for flying Pilot that all salespeople placed on leave, that leave will be a paid leave. If you're going to throw salespeople under a truck, make sure they are getting paid. An unpaid ex-employee is more likely to provide damaging evidence to the Feds than one that is still on the payroll.
(3) Placing all diesel fuel customers on electronic calculation methods for rebates instead of manual calculation;
This one is really lame. I can't believe any transaction is a manual calculation. Just about everything at Flying Pilot is calculated electronically even down to the soap to washer fluid ratio used to refill the washer buckets at the fuel islands. Obviously soap is much cheaper than washer fluid and the soap/water to washer fluid ratio is probably close to 100 to 1.
(4) creating a Chief Compliance Officer position to deal with future issues;
Had the Flying Pilot had any type of compliance officer, chief or otherwise there would be no current or future issues to deal with.
(5) hiring an independent special investigator to “oversee and validate all of our internal inquiries related to the federal investigation.”
No need to hire a special investigator to "oversee and validate" anything. The FBI and IRS will supply all the investigators. If Flying Pilot fights this in court, then their attorneys will take care of all the "special investigating."
Five basic steps full of corporate crap. I never was much of a customer of Pilot. Prior to the merger, I preferred Flying J for the van parking and shower credits. I did like their coffee selection though. I will continue to buy fuel several times a week at Flying Pilots for the shower credits and sleep at Js for the lot size.
Haslam said, his company is taking five basic next steps to address the accusations and the company’s business with carriers moving forward:
(1) Auditing all 3,300 contracts with PFJ’s trucking company customers;
This is something that Flying Pilot should have been doing annually for their own records, unless of course they knew an audit would reveal wrongful doing. Carriers that were part of FP's rebate program should have been doing their own audits annually and this alleged cheating would not have gone on for as long as it did.
(2) Placing salespeople on leave;
Hopefully for flying Pilot that all salespeople placed on leave, that leave will be a paid leave. If you're going to throw salespeople under a truck, make sure they are getting paid. An unpaid ex-employee is more likely to provide damaging evidence to the Feds than one that is still on the payroll.
(3) Placing all diesel fuel customers on electronic calculation methods for rebates instead of manual calculation;
This one is really lame. I can't believe any transaction is a manual calculation. Just about everything at Flying Pilot is calculated electronically even down to the soap to washer fluid ratio used to refill the washer buckets at the fuel islands. Obviously soap is much cheaper than washer fluid and the soap/water to washer fluid ratio is probably close to 100 to 1.
(4) creating a Chief Compliance Officer position to deal with future issues;
Had the Flying Pilot had any type of compliance officer, chief or otherwise there would be no current or future issues to deal with.
(5) hiring an independent special investigator to “oversee and validate all of our internal inquiries related to the federal investigation.”
No need to hire a special investigator to "oversee and validate" anything. The FBI and IRS will supply all the investigators. If Flying Pilot fights this in court, then their attorneys will take care of all the "special investigating."
Five basic steps full of corporate crap. I never was much of a customer of Pilot. Prior to the merger, I preferred Flying J for the van parking and shower credits. I did like their coffee selection though. I will continue to buy fuel several times a week at Flying Pilots for the shower credits and sleep at Js for the lot size.
I think this whole thing would be hilarious, if it weren't so tragic or potentially business-damaging or ruining. The thing that I find most laughable is that Haslam acts as if he's new to all of this knowledge, and is being a good corporate citizen by cleaning up the bad apples in his outfit. The earliest news reports of the raid contended that Haslam was present at several of the company's meetings where specifically this tactic was discussed. That makes him, at least, an accessory.
I've never been a huge fan of PFJ, but I used to chastise a certain Dakotan transplant vanner for swapping out shower heads at his pleasure. Now I say, swap 'em hard, and swap 'em often.
I'll toss my wager in: I bet someone will do jail time. I also bet Haslam won't be among them.
I also remember the TAB Bank debacle. No idea if PFJ was still involved with those idiots, but I vaguely recall that fiasco putting some small trucking outfits under. I ran away as soon as I could. I wonder how many here still do business with them.
Shady cultures all around......both of them.
I've never been a huge fan of PFJ, but I used to chastise a certain Dakotan transplant vanner for swapping out shower heads at his pleasure. Now I say, swap 'em hard, and swap 'em often.
I'll toss my wager in: I bet someone will do jail time. I also bet Haslam won't be among them.
I also remember the TAB Bank debacle. No idea if PFJ was still involved with those idiots, but I vaguely recall that fiasco putting some small trucking outfits under. I ran away as soon as I could. I wonder how many here still do business with them.
Shady cultures all around......both of them.
I don't believe that was a certain Dakotan transplant that did the shower head swapping. If he did swap shower heads he never admitted here.
What the PFJ execs did is no different than a cashier taking a $20 bill, observing the customer is highly distracted, giving change for $10 & pocketing the other $10.
Except, of course, the cashier might have actually needed the stolen money [wages being pretty low], and would have been instantly fired and most likely arrested on the spot. No unemployment benefits, and little chance of finding another job either, for what may have well been a single impulsive act of desperation.
Will any of those who stole from their customers for years suffer even the tiniest fraction of that?
When the consequences of theft are negligible, theft becomes rampant - and the consequences are ****ed inconsequential for too many people.
Except, of course, the cashier might have actually needed the stolen money [wages being pretty low], and would have been instantly fired and most likely arrested on the spot. No unemployment benefits, and little chance of finding another job either, for what may have well been a single impulsive act of desperation.
Will any of those who stole from their customers for years suffer even the tiniest fraction of that?
When the consequences of theft are negligible, theft becomes rampant - and the consequences are ****ed inconsequential for too many people.
What the PFJ execs did is no different than a cashier taking a $20 bill, observing the customer is highly distracted, giving change for $10 & pocketing the other $10.
Except, of course, the cashier might have actually needed the stolen money [wages being pretty low], and would have been instantly fired and most likely arrested on the spot. No unemployment benefits, and little chance of finding another job either, for what may have well been a single impulsive act of desperation.
Will any of those who stole from their customers for years suffer even the tiniest fraction of that?
When the consequences of theft are negligible, theft becomes rampant - and the consequences are ****ed inconsequential for too many people.
Desperation comes in all income groups and reasons to say a rich person can feel desperate the same as a cashier. Employee theft in small amounts is rarely punished beyond firing.
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Right you is. Like the guy with orthopedic shoes..........standing corrected. Must have been his 'like' of one of my comments that made me think in that vein.
You may be right about the employee's punishment, but there's no excuse for the people involved in this theft. I'm still just halfway through reading the affadavit, and the attitude of entitlement is just breathtaking. These guys sound like they begin each motivational meeting by genuflecting to a photo of Gordon Gekko.
That comment of USAFK9's about "swap em hard, swap em often"? That's a quote from one of the fine managers with PFJ's team - except 'swap' wasn't the word he used. Naked and unadulterated sleaze the FCC wouldn't consider allowing to air unbleeped, no matter how much they loosened the standards of decency.
Actually it was 2 profound Ohio-ians swapping out them heads....They seem to have a showerhead phobia...
Let's see we have a criminal complaint by the feds, that's one thing that could be a problem for Pilot.
Shorting of rebates to companies can be handled like Pilot is doing now and going to the customers, which a judge in Tn says is a good thing when he threw out the lawyers claims today and said it's niece to see people working things out without using the courts.
The only reason these lawyers are wanting class action status is for their big payday and nothing else.
Shorting of rebates to companies can be handled like Pilot is doing now and going to the customers, which a judge in Tn says is a good thing when he threw out the lawyers claims today and said it's niece to see people working things out without using the courts.
The only reason these lawyers are wanting class action status is for their big payday and nothing else.
