The judge presiding over the trail of the eight defendants in the Pilot Flying J case has ordered for the prosecution to share all of the evidence that they have gathered against the defendants with the other side.
According to Overdrive, court documents show that this evidence could include “hundreds of millions of pages” of documents and more than 200 hours of recorded audio from FBI informants who helped to gather evidence prior to the infamous FBI raid on Pilot headquarters back in April of 2013.
This move by the defense gives them access to all of the evidence against them and allows them to ask for the current trial date of April 11th to be pushed back in order to give them more time to prepare.
UPDATE: Despite the defense only asking for a 70-day delay, the trial has been postponed 561 days until October 24th, 2017 in order to give the defense more time to prepare.
Former president of Pilot Flying J, Mark Hazelwood, is among the 8 defendants who have pled not guilty to their role in the fuel rebate scam which has already seen the majority of employees arrested agree to plea deals for reduced sentences in exchange for pleading guilty and cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
Along with Hazelwood, former vice presidents John Freeman and Scott Wombold, as well as five other members of the sales team have not taken the plea-deal route just yet. Hazelwood faces more severe charges than the other employees had however, including witness tampering, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and nine separate counts of wire fraud.
Of all the evidence gathered against him however, Hazelwood likely faces no more damning piece than the recordings made by FBI informants which allegedly caught him training his salespeople how to take advantage of their customers and which customers to prey on.
Hazelwood is the highest-ranking executive so far to be arrested in connection with the fuel rebate scam, and some have mused that if Hazelwood does end up taking a plea deal, that would put Jimmy Haslam, CEO of Pilot Flying J, owner of the Cleveland Browns, and brother of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam squarely in the sights of federal investigators.
Haslam has repeatedly denied any involvement in or knowledge of the illegal activities taking place at his company.
Source: overdrive, wbir, knoxnews, ohio, thetruckersreport, lawyerherald
Wow, these lawyers are going to make a bundle off this crew. “hundreds of millions of pages” alone will take teams of interns/assistants hundreds of hours to scan over, not to mention 200 billable hours of reviewing the rats audio tapes. That’s 100 grand @ the standard 500 per hour. 565 days is roughly 80 weeks. So for those millions of pages to review, let’s say they work 40 hours a week for only half that time. 1,600 hours @ 500 per hour – 800,000. Almost a million bucks to review evidence. I’m sure they’ve already been given half a million dollar retainers.
Both Hadlams’ knew what was going on. That scam was to big for them to plead stupid.
Just like with any other mega corporation, the guys at the top skate free, the little man pays the price. Drivers have a hand to hand existence as far as pay goes, the ones at the top enjoy financial freedom to a degree we lowly peons can only dream about, bonuses, and other perks.
Hadlam is going to get a cell right next to Barry Madoff lol.
It’s attitudes such as that which keeps “lowly peons” right where they are. I’ve alway been of the belief we drivers have a power which, when unleaded, has no match. It’s quite simple, will work with hardly any effort and can bring a corporation or even a state government to their sense. It’s called a boycott. Enough said. Bring on the naysayers.
True enough Dave. Just come up with a method to feed our families and pay the bills while on boycott and you’d find thousands willing to join you. Perhaps you are wealthy enough to forgo any income for an undefinable time frame, most of us aren’t.
And that is exactly why the government went after Jimmy Hoffa in the 60’s. He had a union and the means to pay drivers while on strike. He had more power than the President. He could shut down the entire country.
GOODNESS! you have to understand it only takes three days to empty a grocery store…or less. You are saying that you cannot survive for three
days… no wonder your are indebted to the Man.
The power is in the hands of truckers to stop all this scientific bs research …the powers that be spend on sleep apnea research, fatigue, speed limters,robots to drive the trucks,(they’re here now,right under your nose), blah blah blah, and all you do is complain…no spine so don’t whine.
A few decades back, when the national 55 mph speed limit was lifted, Indiana raised their speed limit to 65. They also raised their fuel tax through the roof. Trucking companies/owner-ops understandably objected. Indiana retaliated by reducing both back down, thereby making drivers angry. Indiana’s Governor stuck his foot in his mouth by going on TV to call drivers “pansies”. Drivers just decided to boycott the state. I remember back when that happened. You could drive by a truckstop in Indiana and it looked like the place was closed. THIS WORKED VERY EFFECTIVELY. The governor heard loud and clear from truckstop owners and the trucking industry.
Well since the goverment step in a but regulations on the trucking industry we are no longer aloud to strike bocott etc… BUT on the other hand if the CEO’S & OWNERS of the trucking companys were to stand togather, stand up against the goverments rules and stop some of these uncalled for and unjust rules. Then maybe something coukd happen. But got to agree just peon truckers. I too at one time thought proud to be a trucker but 30 yrs later i am totally ashamed to be a trucker. I would not recommend this career to sny one. Why do you think they are bringing them in from other countrys to give them trucker jobs as there is a shortage. Truckers are worst off the cattle, herd em in and knock em down.
When the pilot/flying J closes that’s gonna leave a big gap to fill!!
Pilot Flying J won’t be closing. They have so many ties to politics and the oil industry that it doesn’t really matter what they do. Lawsuits such as this are not only normal for large corporations, but business will carry on like any other day. It’ll take much more than this to bring Pilot to it’s knees.
Who said they are closing?
The Military still uses Flying J as a rest stop during long convoys. I don’t believe they’ll be going anywhere.
I’m not holding my breath to see these guys going to prison, especially Haslam. We do have a voice and power. All we have to do is unite. Put all the BS aside. Race, religion, political party, nationality and everything else. We drivers are the life blood of this industry. We have the power to change things for the better. Politicians should be considering the Trucker vote.
Jimmy will get a pardon from his Brother.
Trucker always use the excurse, how will I feed my family, just like you dig holes in your back yard incase of war, you will find away to stand together.
I believe it’s greed and lack of faith ” how I’m going to feed my family “. If you are a driver for a year and still living paycheck to paycheck, quit. It should be all for one, one for all. But trucker is the trucker biggest enemy. We must unite to face nowadays problems.