Three Trucking Companies Settle With Pilot in Fraud Case

Attorneys for three trucking companies have filed notices of undisclosed settlement agreements with Pilot Flying J in connection with diesel rebate fraud allegations contained in federal lawsuits filed against the truck-stop operator.

The three carriers are National Retail Transportation Inc. and Keystone Freight Corporation of Bergen County, New Jersey, and Shoreline Transportation of Alabama Inc., which is based in Greenville, Alabama.

A federal judge dismissed all three cases contingent on receipt of details of the settlements by next month.

The lawsuits were filed after FBI agents raided Pilot Flying J’s Knoxville, Tennessee, headquarters in April 2013.

So far, 10 Pilot executives have entered into plea bargain agreements that require them to cooperate with federal investigators.

The executives have yet to be sentenced in the ongoing federal investigation into allegations of diesel rebate fraud.

In July, Pilot agreed to pay the government $92 million in civil penalties to avoid criminal charges. The agreement, however, does not protect individual company employees from potential future prosecution.  

Keystone and National Retail Transportation are owned by National Retail Systems, a family-owned and operated third-party logistics and truckload carrier. Shoreline of Alabama is a general freight and drayage operator.

The three companies are part of a consolidation with five other federal trucker lawsuits against Pilot that have been heard by U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar in Covington, Kentucky.