DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... FBI locks down Cleveland Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam's Pilot Flying J headqu

Well ..... from the way that the DOJ has been used to push political agendas, it wouldn't surprise me if this was just one more.

They are removing all of the Steeler paraphernalia....Taking caution in handling the Terrible towels...

I wonder what the league would do in the case of an Owner going to the Federal "country club"? Has an owner ever been arrested?

They didn't arrest Art Modell...

jc

Maybe Jimmie was running a "full service" truck stop?

JC

Why couldn't this happen when he was part owner of the Steelers.. I mean we are talking smack shack material then...LOL


Had to edit that.. LOL

Self deportation might be an option. But probably not gonna happen. If it does, maybe before Draft Days. Just throwing it out as an option. Curious how this got shut up so.

FBI, IRS search Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam's Pilot Flying J headquarters

Posted: 04/15/2013
Last Updated: 46 minutes ago
By: Carly Harrington, knoxnews.com
KNOXVILLE -
Dozens of FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents on Monday raided the West Knoxville headquarters of Pilot Flying J, operator of the largest travel center network in North America, while executing a search warrant.
FBI supervisory special agent Marshall Stone said federal agents arrived at the corporate headquarters on Lonas Road as part of a “ongoing investigation.”
Stone declined to provide specifics of the raid.
“The FBI secured our headquarters today and informed us they are investigating Pilot Flying J,” Pilot CEO Jimmy Haslam said in an email statement Monday afternoon.
“We will cooperate appropriately with any and all external investigations and conduct our own. I believe and trust there has been no wrongdoing. The integrity of our company always has been job No. 1.”
Pilot Food Marts, Pilot Travel Centers and Flying J Travel Plazas remain open, according to a statement from Pilot spokeswoman Lauren Christ of Moxley Carmichael public relations firm.
“At this time, we do not know the nature of the situation,” according to the statement. “Pilot Flying J is cooperating fully with the authorities.
“Pilot Flying J is confident that the matter will be resolved fully.”
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam , who is the younger brother of Jimmy Haslam, declined to comment, referring questions to Moxley Carmichael.
An employee who was present during the raid described an orderly but swift effort by federal agents to verify staffers’ identities and job titles and to separate those who are necessary to the day-to-day business operations.
“They came in pretty quick — it wasn’t a calm event,” said the employee, who asked to not be identified. “I was at my desk and I heard some voices say they were there to execute a search and seizure warrant.”
Company personnel were told to turn off their computers, cellphones and other electronic devices immediately as agents sequestered and processed some 200 employees among three office buildings on the corporate campus.
“They didn’t want us to have any access to company information,” the employee said.
The employee initially was corralled into a room with his department co-workers. The staffer and most of the others were told later to leave their company laptops behind and were subsequently allowed to leave the premises.
“Certain people in certain departments were asked to stay,” the employee said. “Mostly people who collect data.”
The staffer said he saw 25 to 30 federal agents and Knoxville Police Department officers in his building alone.
“There were just so many of them,” said the employee, adding that several of the FBI agents wore white bulletproof vests. “It was weird, they looked like life preservers.”
Agents appeared particularly focused on IT, accounting and customer services offices, he added.
“They didn’t seem like they were on a witch hunt,” the staffer said. “They seemed like they knew what they were looking for.”
Employees are expected to return to work at the corporate offices as usual Tuesday morning, according to a statement released Monday night by Moxley Carmichael.
“The message they will receive from CEO Jimmy Haslam will be, ‘Stay focused and do your job’ supporting the company’s 650 travel centers,” the statement reads.
Two men were seen exiting the Pilot data center, 1339 E. Weisgarber Road, Monday afternoon. One was wearing an FBI windbreaker and the other was carrying a backpack.
The Knoxville Police Department provided officers in support of the raid.
“All I can say is that the FBI asked us to have some officers assist them with a search warrant,” Police Chief David Rausch said.
Raush said he was not informed in advance where the search was to be and did not know until the officers radioed in from the scene.
Media were barred from the Pilot campus and the entrance was blocked. Pilot employees were escorted off the corporate campus on Lonas Road.
The Knoxville-based Pilot is owner of more than 600 travel center locations across the U.S. and has more than 30,000 employees. It recorded revenues of $29.3 billion in 2011.
The company was founded more than 50 years ago by Jim Haslam and is run by his eldest son, Jimmy Haslam, who bought a majority ownership of the Cleveland Browns of the NFL last year.
Haslam stepped down as CEO after buying the Browns but resumed his role as CEO less than six months later, replacing former PepsiCo President John Compton.
More details as they develop online and on newsnet5 mobile.

newsnet5 - Knoxville

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Maybe the guy they hired to take Jimmy's place actually wanted out of the role because he saw something that made him uncomfortable? Lot's to think about.

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This was my thought as well. If they were cooking the books and the ex-Pepsi exec didn't like what he saw, he would have a pretty good reason for stepping down after only five months.

Then I thought, the 6th largest privately owned company in the United States couldn't possibly be doing anything illegal.

Odds we have a new owner next year?

Its Cleveland. Id say strong to quite strong.

There is never a shortage of drama in Browns Town and I'm always amazed at the way it manifests itself. The dysfunction finds all kinds of ways to rear its ugly head.

The curse is alive and well!

Heh, ahmen though brother...

I guess off-season drama, and a winning football team is never ever be in the grasps of Cleveland Brown's fans.

Not to mention the fact that their draft picks can't even sniff the field

I hope this will be a part of Road Tested Season Two.....

Little snippet from yet another article:

"
...

This tactic suggests suspicion that the targets of the investigation knew that they were doing something that was illegal or close to it. Overall, the decision to swoop in and seize evidence implies that authorities were able to persuade a judge that probable cause exists to believe that one or more crimes have been committed."

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...-investigation/

I read on a news site (ABC or NBC) that their sources in the IRS said they were their for tax delinquency. Oddly yesterday was tax day. I will try to find the source. I read in on my phone last night.


Edit: Well, I checked my history on my phone and This is the link but the few sentences that said "their sources in the IRS said they were there for tax delinquency" is no longer in the article. I know it was there last night. So either they made it up thinking that was what it would be but then later took it out in case they were wrong or their sources in the IRS that gave them the info called as told them to take it out.

Tax day for businesses can be different. I know ours at work is not April 15th.

My dad rewatched the 9th inning of the '97 series, and he says Mesa kept shaking off Sandy who was calling for the #1.

I don't believe in curses. I sound like a hypocrite because when I play hockey I have my small rituals, but that is more of a routine than superstition.

I don't believe Cleveland is cursed. I believe the odds have been stacked against us ever since free agency and giant contracts became a thing. Combine that with really bad staff hires, and poor selection of players, and you're going to get the results we've had.

I think sometimes fans lose perspective. In the NFL there are 31 other fan bases who want what we want, and only one of them is happy at the end of the year.

I believe luck plays into sports all the time. If you want to say we're unlucky? I'll buy that. I feel like unlucky and cursed are not one in the same though.

I don't know what to make of this situation with Pilot, but I wonder if maybe some things were going on while Jimmy had stepped down, and maybe he caught wind of it and that's why he went back. The whole thing is weird.

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I wonder if maybe some things were going on while Jimmy had stepped down, and maybe he caught wind of it and that's why he went back.

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I do not believe at this point in time that a highly respected ex-Pepsi exec, (one who was being groomed to take the reigns by all accounts,) walked into Pilot Flying J and decided to changed the culture from legal to illegal in the course of five months. I find it more highly probable that when he got there, he didn't like what he found and stepped down, forcing junior's return. Of course it's all just speculation, but something stinks in Pilotville.

Lerner! Lerner! Lerner!

It could be something Jimmy and the brass knew nothing about.

But as a seasoned Browns fan I'm wondering if a draft war-room can be set up in a conjugal visit trailer.

This is CRAZY! Bump for interest.

New Letter Undiscovered in the case against Haslam:

Dear President Haslam,
It has came to the attention of the FBI that you are currently making the Browns good. We do not appreciate this as it would throw the status quo into a blender. With the Lions and Browns suddenly good who are we to use trite jokes such as "We should send <Insert child abuse victim> to the Browns/Lions, because they can't beat anyone." Yes, with the Browns suddenly good who will we laugh at? The Cowboys giving Tony Romo a 6 year deal? Of course not. They are American's team. This assault on the NFL and it's hierarchy has made you a target of the FBI and we're pretty damn closed to labeling you as a domestic terrorist and COINTELPROing the entire Cleveland Browns organization. And we've already infiltrated you guys before, remember when Hillis got turned down by the CIA? We offered him a job and he jumped at it. Sitting 5 weeks straight for a cold was our idea btw. Anyway, yeah, you gotta cut this **** out because we are not playing.

Sincerely,
The guy who operates the Ouija Board to contact J. Edgar Hoover

LOL,, Nice work

That's the ONLY conspiracy theory I can believe in. The Man is trying to keep the Browns down!

Even though I have no real facts on what this is about..... It's just another thing to make the Browns look even worse in the national media and cast even more doubt on whether or not we are actually building anything that will ever be any good..... this franchise is really hard to root for. Being a sports fan isn't supposed to be this much work.