Haslam said Pilot fiasco caused "by a handful of rogue employees"
Jimmy Haslam said that Pilot's fiasco was caused by "a very few rogue employees that figured out how to manipulate the system". It involved 250 customers.
So said Tommy Hodges, Chairman of Titan Trucking Inc. in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Titan has a fleet of 400 trucks in terminals throughout the U.S. Shelbyville is 58 miles south of Nashville. Haslam paid Hodges a visit two weeks after the FBI raided Pilot Flying J on April 15, 2013 with 200 agents.
Pilot admitted to the U.S. Justice Department that it stole $56 million from 5500 customers. Haslam signed this admission as company CEO.
Pilot sells seven billion gallons of truck diesel fuel a year through its 750 truck stops throughout the U.S. and Canada. Pilot's sales are $20 billion, down from $32 billion four years ago. It sells more fuel than its competitors.
"We have always had a difficult time reconciling the rebates we got back from Pilot", said Hodges.
Hodges said, "Jimmy Haslam deserves an opportunity to make a wrong, right.
Tommy Hodges, Chairman of Titan Trucking Inc. in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
To date, 14 Pilot employees have plead guilty in the company's rebate scam.