CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Federal prosecutors have long insisted the goal of a fraud scheme at Pilot Flying J was to boost the truck stop giant's profit and market share. This week they served up numbers to try to prove it.
Jurors in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga this week heard testimony and saw financial records showing that Pilot Flying J's margin on diesel fuel sales, the number of truck stops it controlled and the amount of diesel fuel it sold all grew substantially during the time of the fraud at issue in the ongoing trial of the firm's former president and three subordinates.
Former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood, former vice president Scott "Scooter" Wombold and former regional account representatives Heather Jones and Karen Mann have been standing trial since November on wire and mail fraud conspiracy charges linked to a five-year scheme beginning in 2008 to defraud trucking companies of promised discounts on diesel fuel.
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