Freedom Fuel owes supplier $4 million for 1.1 million gallons of gas

Mansfield Oil filed a lawsuit in August against KRSM, a Pennsylvania company that owns parts of the Freedom Fuel Network. The supplier claims it has not received payment for approximately 1.1 million gallons of fuel. The total value of that fuel is nearly $4 million.

Mansfield alleges that KRSM sold a portion of this fuel at Freedom Fuel locations. The company says it corrected a data error that initially prevented it from sending invoices. Mansfield states that KRSM has still not paid the bill despite receiving the corrected documentation.

KRSM is owned by brothers Syed and Shamikh Kazmi. The company partially owns at least 14 of the stations. Eight additional stations are leased directly to Shamikh Kazmi from Blue Owl Capital. Neither KRSM nor the Freedom Fuel Network has responded to requests for comment regarding the lawsuit or the operations in Detroit.

Freedom Fuel stations opened across the country this summer. The first location opened in Philadelphia on July 7. On that day, regular unleaded cost $3.47 per gallon. This price was almost 50 cents cheaper than the local average reported by GasBuddy.

Two stations have opened in Detroit. The first location opened on Aug. 2 at Harper Avenue and Cadieux. It offered gas at $3.47 per gallon. GasBuddy records show the average cost of gas in Detroit was about $4.31 per gallon at that time.

A second Detroit station opened a month later at W. McNichols and Third Street. It charged $3.99 per gallon when the local average was around $4.07. These locations join stations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to bring the total number of Freedom Fuel stations to 30.

President Trump endorsed the chain, saying it was leading the way in selling affordable gas. He suggested that other companies should follow that model.