Governor’s daughter, son-in-law buy 250-acre N.C. mountain retreat
Gov. Bill Haslam’s daughter and her husband are buying “The Swag,” a 250-acre western North Carolina mountain inn and retreat currently owned by Haslam family friends, reports the News Sentinel.
David and Annie Haslam Colquitt will purchase the property from founders and longtime owners Dan and Deener Matthews… Annie Haslam Colquitt is the daughter of Gov. Bill Haslam and granddaughter of Pilot Flying J founder Jim Haslam. David, an attorney, left his job as a Pilot Flying J executive last month.
Nine Tennesseans make 2018 Forbes rich list; Jimmy Haslam richer than Trump, but not Bill
Nine Tennesseans are on Forbes’ 2018 list of the world’s richest people, including Gov. Bill Haslam, who the magazine had declared the nation’s richest politician prior to the election of President Donald Trump.
Trump is still ahead of Haslam in wealth — $3.1 billion of net worth to the governor’s $2.3 billion, by the Forbes estimate. That’s down a bit from last year for the president, who has declared Forbes underestimates his wealth. It’s unchanged for the governor, who has always refused to discuss the “private matter” of his fortune, based on the family-owned Pilot Flying J chain of gas stations.
Jimmy Haslam, the governor’s brother and CEO of Pilot, is listed with a net worth of $3.4 billion – ahead of the president as well as his brother.
Anthem flap inspires Haslam bashing by Beavers, Breitbart
Former Sen. Mae Beavers, now running for governor, and Breitbart News are making an issue of the Haslam family’s comments on the ongoing national anthem controversy in the National Football League. Beavers says Randy Boyd, one of her GOP primary opponents, should return any contributions received from the governor’s family.
Haslam family gives Knox County schools $1.3M (half for high school bands)
The Haslam family, through Pilot Flying J and the Haslam Family Foundation, is giving $1.3 million to Knox County Schools’ marching bands and academics, reports the News Sentinel.
“The Haslam family is proud to call Knoxville both our home and the headquarters for our company,” Pilot Flying J Director of Giving Back Will Haslam said in the announcement. “When we think of school pride, we think of the marching bands and their dedication.”
An equal portion of the money will go to each of the district’s 13 high schools, pending acceptance Sept. 13 by the Knox County Schools Board of Education.
… Half of the $1.3 million, coming from Pilot Flying J, will buy band uniforms, instruments or other equipment, according to a news release. The other half, coming from the Haslam Family Foundation, will give $50,000 to each high school for “materials or activities that will enhance the academic experience and outcomes for students,” the announcement said.
… This donation follows a 2015 pledge of $10 million for artificial turf football fields at all 13 high schools, with construction running through 2018. That gift included $100,000 to each school for classroom improvements.
Four enter guilty pleas in Pilot Flying J scam
The man dubbed by the FBI as the architect of the diesel fuel rebate scam by executives of the nation’s largest truck stop chain has struck a deal to confess, reports the News Sentinel.
The former Pilot Flying J vice president of sales, John “Stick” Freeman, and three other Pilot Flying J ex-employees have agreed to plead guilty in the multi-million-dollar fraud and, according to language in the documents filed Monday, cooperate with federal authorities in the ongoing probe.
Freeman has been repeatedly described in an FBI affidavit and an indictment filed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Lewen and Trey Hamilton as the architect of the scam in which less sophisticated trucking companies across the country were promised certain rebates but paid much less.
Freeman is providing information to the FBI about Pilot Flying J and the diesel fuel rebate scam the corporation’s own board of directors has conceded ripped trucking firms off to the tune of millions in five years, pleadings filed Monday in U.S. District Court show.
Also striking deals to confess are: John Spiewak, a regional sales manager for Pilot Flying J; Vicki Borden, director of direct sales; and Katy Bibee, an account representative who worked directly with Freeman.
… Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lewen and Hamilton make clear in the plea agreements Freeman is a key player in their effort to show the rebate scam was pervasive as was the culture of greed that spurred it – and that former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood was looking to expand it.
…Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam has not been charged, though the FBI, indicated in testimony and court records he was a suspect. Haslam denies any knowledge of the scheme.
