Gov. Bill Haslam speaks to reporters in Nashville.

The Pilot Flying J sales executive at the center of the ongoing federal fraud investigation combined with his wife to contribute $12,000 to the campaign of Gov. Bill Haslam in recent years.

Pilot vice president of sales John Freeman gave a combined $5,000 to Haslam's 2010 gubernatorial campaign and an additional $2,000 last year. Freeman's wife, Monica, gave $5,000 in 2010.

Freeman was singled out in a search warrant affidavit released last week by the FBI as one of the sales executives who allegedly ran a rebate scheme to cheat Pilot customers, mostly trucking companies, out of millions of dollars.

A spokesman with the governor's office declined to explain the relationship between Bill Haslam and Freeman. Bill Haslam was president of the family-owned business until 2002. According to the affidavit, the FBI's investigation focuses on the years after that.

Read more at The Tennessean.