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Former Pilot Flying J sales exec ordered up fraud ‘manual’ to keep track, trial reveals

This April 30, 2013, file photo shows the Pilot Flying J corporate offices in Knoxville, Tenn. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is acquiring a major stake in Pilot Flying J truck stops and it will become a majority owner within about five years, in a deal announced Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. (Michael Patrick/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP, File) This April 30, 2013, file photo shows the Pilot Flying J corporate offices in Knoxville, Tenn. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is acquiring a major stake in Pilot Flying J truck stops and it will become a majority owner within about five years, in a deal announced Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. (Michael Patrick/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP, File)

By The Knoxville News Sentinel February 12, 2018 1 min read

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – It was getting tough to keep up with the cheating, and getting caught had proven expensive for the nation’s largest diesel fuel retailer. But Pilot Flying J sales executive Arnie Ralenkotter had a solution: A fraud “manual.”

Ralenkotter has confessed carrying out a five-year scheme at the truck stop giant to lure trucking companies to buy diesel fuel at Pilot Flying J in return for discounts and then short them.

He is one of 26 witnesses who have testified since November in the trial of former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood, former Vice President Scott “Scooter” Wombold and former account representatives Heather Jones and Karen Mann.

Read more at our news partner’s website, knoxnews.com.