DOVER, Del. (AP) — Deposition testimony from billionaire Jimmy Haslam supports claims by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathway that Haslam tried to bribe employees at the Pilot truck stop chain amid a dispute with Berkshire over the future of the company, a Berkshire attorney told a judge Thursday.
In a deposition Tuesday, Haslam denied offering a “side payment” to Pilot Travel Centers controller David Clothier if the Haslam family exercises its right to sell its remaining 20% stake in PTC to Berkshire, attorney Ryan Stottmann told Vice Chancellor Morgan Zurn.
Just minutes later, however, Haslam testified that he has an informal agreement with two dozen PTC employees to reinstate their lucrative executive bonus plan if the Haslams sell their stake in the company, according to Stottmann.
Stottmann described Haslam’s admission as “stunning,” given that attorneys for Haslam’s Pilot Corp. have told the judge that Berkshire’s bribery allegations were false, meritless and “wild inventions.”
“Their own client has now confirmed under oath that these were not inventions, but that the shadow executive compensation plan actually exists,” Stottmann said.