Pilot taking steps to rectify allegations, puts diesel salespeople on leave

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Updated Apr 24, 2013

Pilot ODIn a prepared statement Monday, April 22, Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam said “several members” of the company’ s diesel fuel sales team have been placed on administrative leave pending the ongoing FBI and IRS investigation into the company’s alleged rebate withholding scheme. 

In the meantime, the team will be “reconstructed” on an interm basis, Haslam says, and because the company is privately owned, names of those placed on leave will not be released.

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.”

Haslam said he has already reached out to customers mentioned in the affidavit and others in an attempt to rectify the company’s standing with carriers that have been harmed by the alleged fraudulent activity. Moreover, moving all customers to electronically calculated rebates will “fully eliminate manual processing” from Pilot Flying J practices — the source of much of the alleged fraud.

Pilot Flying J was hit with its first lawsuit this weekend regarding the accusations — Click here to see Overdrive‘s coverage of that.

 

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