Pilot hires ‘special counsel’ to internally investigate fraud allegations

Pilot Flying J announced this week it has hired attorney Reid Weingarten to assume the role of “independent special counsel,” responsible for investigating internal inquiries of Pilot Flying J relating to the federal investigation of the company and the alleged fraud and racketeering allegations against it.

Pilot CEO Jimmy Haslam said in a prepared statement April 22 that hiring someone to “oversee and validate an internal investigation” was part of a preliminary five-step program to begin rectifying accusations that the company withheld millions of dollars in rebate checks from customers in a fraudulent scheme.

Haslam also announced April 22 that diesel salespeople were placed on indefinite administrative leave, the company’s contracts were being audited, the practice of manually calculating rebate checks would end and that the company intends to hire a Chief Compliance Officer.

News also broke this week that Pilot was hit with two more lawsuits regarding the fraud allegations. Click here to see Overdrive‘s coverage.