Supplier Sues Distributor Over Nearly $4-M in Fuel Linked to Freedom Fuel Stations

US President Donald Trump praised low gasoline prices at Freedom Fuel, a discount fuel network that appeared to respond to his calls for oil companies to reduce prices, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Amy Brittain and Federica Cocco reported for The Washington Post.

A Freedom Fuel station in Pennsylvania is at the center of a lawsuit alleging that a distributor failed to pay nearly $4 million for gasoline supplied to some network locations. [Photo: Mansfield Oil Co.]

A new lawsuit, however, offers a possible explanation for how some fuel could have been sold at such low prices.

Mansfield Oil Co. alleges that New Jersey businessman Syed Kazmi and his company, KRSM Inc., failed to pay for more than 1 million gallons of fuel delivered from a Pennsylvania terminal between late May and early July.

The fuel was worth nearly $4 million, according to the lawsuit.

Mansfield alleges that KRSM collected approximately 1.1 million gallons of fuel from Mansfield's account at the Twin Oaks terminal in Pennsylvania without making the required payments.

The lawsuit was filed Aug. 19 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Some of the fuel was ultimately delivered to stations listed on the Freedom Fuel Network website.

Mansfield attorney Broderick Furrer told The Washington Post that the alleged failure to pay could explain how the fuel was offered at unusually low prices.

However, the allegations have not been established in court. Reports indicate that KRSM disputes Mansfield's claims, saying the dispute involves invoice and pricing errors.