Maybe ESPN should bring back Playmakers. Not as a scripted show, but as a documentary.
At a time when a prominent NFL player faces apparently significant entanglement in a murder investigation, the league’s newest owner could eventually find himself facing a federal indictment.
According to Nate Rau of the Tennessean, Pilot Flying J executive Jay Stinnett stated in his plea agreement that “senior management were aware of the rebate reduction scheme” that has resulted in five guilty pleas, with possibly more on the way.
The document, per Rau, doesn’t identify specific members of senior management. The most senior member of management is Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, the CEO of Pilot Flying J.
Stinnett began cooperating with the federal government the same day the IRS and FBI showed up unannounced to search corporate headquarters, and other locations. Stinnett agreed to cooperate with investigators and to testify in any court proceedings.
The investigation focuses on rebates and discounts that were not given to customers deemed too unsophisticated to realize they were being shorted. Throughout the process, Haslam has downplayed the extent of the scam and denied any knowledge of it on his watch.
Look for the authorities to continue working their way up the Pilot Flying J ladder, prosecuting as far as the evidence will take them -- even if (or especially if) it takes them all the way to the top of the company.