04/23/24
April 19, 2013
Cleveland Browns owner's company in trouble: Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam’s travel center company for “many years” engaged in a fraud scheme to keep millions of dollars owed to customers.
Haslam might soon be in a reality re-make of The Longest Yard.
posted by Howard_T at 02:08 PM on April 19, 2013
Can anyone explain what the fraud here was? It says the company was shorting other companies on rebates, but what sort of rebates are we talking about? Was it money they promised and then didn't deliver?
posted by Etrigan at 06:00 PM on April 19, 2013
Can anyone explain what the fraud here was?
As far as I can determine, Pilot Flying J offered a discount on fuel prices in return for trucking companies agreeing to use Pilot Flying J truck stops exclusively. These things are everywhere, so trucking companies would have no problem finding one. Many of the smaller trucking companies did not keep good records of mileage, fuel purchases, and so on. It appears that Haslam and his employees promised via contract certain discounts and then "shortchanged" truckers by paying less than promised. The few that complained were paid off in order that they not go to law enforcement. The smaller guys did not have the manpower or accounting expertise to catch Haslam in the act. Since Haslam's company did not declare the extra income from the withheld rebates, this also amounts to tax fraud.
posted by Howard_T at 11:15 PM on April 19, 2013
Ah, okay. And the discount would be applied in the form of rebates, rather than at the pump, so they could just say, "Yeah, your rebate was $50,000 for this month" rather than the $100,000 it should have been.
posted by Etrigan at 01:46 AM on April 20, 2013
Gary Bettman will be talking to him shortly, guy sounds like prime NHL owner material.