A lawsuit filed this month alleges that the Freedom Fuel Network — the chain of discount gas stations promoted by the White House — has been selling stolen fuel. The suit claims that some $4 million worth of gas was acquired without payment and sold at stations in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area.
Georgia-based fuel supplier Mansfield Oil Co. filed the complaint on Aug. 19 in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit claims that KRSM, a company run by New Jersey fuel businessman Syed Kazmi, acquired over 1 million gallons of fuel from a Sunoco terminal worth roughly $4 million — and never paid for it.
“KRSM was able to sell such fuel for such low prices and garner such publicity because it never paid Plaintiffs for such fuel,” the complaint states.
The White House Connection
The Freedom Fuel stations burst into public view in the run-up to the July Fourth holiday, when President Donald Trump posted praise for their discounted pump prices, writing “They are doing this because they love the U.S.A.” The White House later posted a video of drivers filling up at one of the stations and thanking Trump for the low prices — at the time, $3.47 a gallon in honor of the 47th president.
Neither the White House nor the network’s owners would explain exactly how the stations were able to sell fuel far cheaper than their competitors. The White House told reporters that Freedom Fuel was simply a private company lowering its margins for patriotic reasons and declined to disclose the people behind it.
The Kazmi Brothers’ Legal History
The lawsuit is not the first legal trouble for the Kazmi brothers. A federal judge entered judgment in February in favor of a fuel distributor that alleged Shamikh Kazmi’s company had taken roughly $667,000 worth of fuel over 10 days in August 2021 without fully paying for it. The court entered a default judgment after what the judge described as “serial flouting of Court orders”.
In another suit, 7-Eleven accused Syed Kazmi’s KRSM in 2022 of stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes, and the judge again found in favor of the plaintiff in 2024.
The Denials
KRSM disputed the allegations in an emailed statement, calling the case “an accounting dispute over fuel invoices misplaced by Mansfield Oil”.
A White House official said that “the Administration has had zero contact or dealings with the defendant: KRSM Inc or Sayed Kazmi.” A source familiar with the Freedom Fuel business said that “KRSM Inc and Sayed Kazmi are not associated with the Freedom Fuel Network in any capacity”.
The Bottom Line
A lawsuit alleges that the Freedom Fuel Network, a chain of discount gas stations promoted by President Trump, sold $4 million worth of stolen fuel. The suit claims that KRSM, run by Syed Kazmi, acquired over 1 million gallons of fuel from a Sunoco terminal without paying for it. The Kazmi brothers have a history of legal judgments against them for theft and fraud. KRSM denies the allegations, calling the lawsuit an accounting dispute. The White House has distanced itself from the company at the center of the suit.
