Cleveland Browns owner and Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam's voice can be heard on a secret recording from a training session in which fraud was allegedly taught at his truck stop company, which was played during the federal trial for Pilot Flying J on Tuesday, according to Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Jamie Satterfield.
In a video Facebook post, Satterfield described the recording, in which Haslam can be heard discussing a rebate scheme with former Pilot Flying J president Mark Hazelwood. Although Haslam has been referenced multiple times throughout the trial, Tuesday marked the first time his voice was heard on tape.
"It was detailed how you commit fraud at one of the sessions. It's not clear from this recording exactly which session that Jimmy Haslam was in. But as Mark Hazelwood was discussing a move to expand to get more business from smaller trucking companies, and he was describing a competitor's situation and saying that the competitor would offer a discount to these smaller trucking companies and that Pilot would be able to undercut them, but not pay them the full amount that they promised," Satterfield explained.
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According to Satterfield, Haslam then said: "Sounds like Stick's old deal with Western."
There was then a little bit of laughter before Hazelwood said, "We're going to introduce them to a guy named Manuel."
As Satterfield explains, Haslam's comment appears to be in regard to an incident involving former Pilot Flying J vice president of sales John "Stick" Freeman was caught shorting rebates to Nashville-based trucking company Western Express. As a result, Pilot Flying J bought a broken down $1 million plane from Western Express.
"Manuel" was what the rebate scheme was allegedly referred to within in the sales division of Pilot Flying J. Many of the owners of trucking companies Pilot Flying J is accused of ripping off were Hispanic.
Hazelwood, along with former vice president of sales Scott Wombold and sales representatives Karen Mann and Heather Jones are currently standing trial on charges of federal conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. Hazelwood is also accused of witness tampering.
Haslam, meanwhile, has not been charged and denies any knowledge of the rebate scheme. To date, 18 employees have been accused in the scheme, 14 have pleaded guilty and two have been granted immunity.
In 2014, Pilot Flying J paid a $92 million fine and accepted responsibility for the criminal conduct of its employees. The agreement did not protect any individual from Pilot from potential prosecution.