haslam-emphatic-horiz-2013-fbi-ap.jpg

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, whose family company Pilot Flying J was sued Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

(Associated Press file photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Wisconsin trucking company filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Browns owner Jimmy Haslam's family company, Pilot Flying J, that specifically names Haslam as a defendant accused of defrauding the trucking business and others like it.

The class-action lawsuit is the first of five lawsuits filed in the case to name Haslam and other top company officials as individual defendants in the case of Pilot Flying J's rebate program, which is under federal investigation. The company also is named in the suit, brought by Edis Trucking of Franksville, Wis., in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

The suit says that Haslam, as chairman and CEO of Pilot Flying J, "exercised control, authority, responsibility and/or supervision" of the company's employees and officers. It also said he oversaw "corporate culture, operations, policies, procedures, the fuel rebate/discount program and the scheme to defraud (Edis and other companies)." (See the full lawsuit below. Mobile users can view it here.)

The suit said Haslam "also engaged in and/or caused" Pilot Flying J to take part in the scheme. Others named as individual defendants include the company's president, Mark Hazelwood, chief financial officer Mitch Steenrod and several salespeople.

The suit alleges that Haslam and the others took part in a pattern of unlawful activity to defraud the trucking companies. It says the company and its executives took part in "multiple, repeated and continuous acts of mail fraud and/or foreign wire fraud."

The suit points to an FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn., that says Haslam knew about the fraud committed by his top sales staff, as he had been in sales meetings where the scheme was discussed. The document says that Pilot Flying J sales employees withheld fuel price rebates and discounts from certain companies to boost the profitability and increase their commissions.

The document was used to obtain a judge's approval to search Pilot Flying J's offices last month. Court records show FBI and IRS agents had intended to search Haslam's office, but it is unclear whether that took place.

No one has been charged in the case.

Haslam has attempted to contact several companies that lost money. He has denied wrongdoing, but he has stressed that he is simply trying to make his customers whole.

A spokeswoman for Haslam could not be reached. But last week, she released a statement that said: "We've been advised by counsel class-action lawsuits in a matter like this are expected and no surprise. Our counsel will review them as they come and defend them."

Companies also have filed lawsuits against Pilot Flying J in Arkansas, Alabama and Georgia. A trucker in Mississippi also has filed suit.