Former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood has been indicted on felony fraud and witness tampering charges for his role in the company’s fuel rebate scam.
The company was raided by the FBI back in 2013, after a multi-year investigation unveiled that the company was withholding promised fuel discounts from “unsophisticated customers.”
After a lengthy investigation, prosecutors determined that Hazelwood, who led the direct sales division, was instrumental in the scheme.
A former Pilot employee-turned-informant, used a wire to collect evidence against the company. In one of the recordings, Hazelwood can be heard coaching his sales staff on which customers to target for the scam.
“Customer A, looks (at) every orifice,” he said. “You have Customer B, who doesn’t even know you have an orifice.”
It’s “Customer B” that the sales team should target, he added.
Hazelwood, along with his 7 members of his department were indicted on Tuesday morning.
Pilot issued a public statement shortly after the news broke:
“We’re obviously disappointed and saddened by today’s events but cannot comment further on any matters which are part of the ongoing investigation. We can say that since this unfortunate episode began, the company has put in place policies and procedures unparalleled in the industry to prevent anything like this from happening again.
According to Knoxville News-Sentinel, Hazelwood will return to court for trial on April 11th.
Pilot Flying J’s CEO Jimmy Haslam was not indicted, and has maintained his innocence.
