Mansfield Oil sues New Jersey fuel distributor over unpaid deliveries to Freedom Fuel stations

Mansfield Oil Company sued KRSM Inc. and its president, Syed Kazmi, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, claiming the distributor received about 150 loads of fuel – roughly 1.12 million gallons valued at $3,998,868 – from Mansfield’s Twin Oaks terminal between May 21 and July 7 and did not pay for it. Mansfield alleges KRSM sold part of the fuel to stations in the Freedom Fuel Network, a chain promoted by President Donald Trump, at reduced prices because the invoices were unpaid.

The complaint cites a 2022 credit agreement requiring KRSM to remit payment by electronic funds transfer within ten days of invoicing. Mansfield said a data-receiving error delayed its invoices until early July, after which it revised the amounts and resent them on July 17. The company later reported that KRSM’s bank rejected draft withdrawals from the account.

Kazmi filed a court declaration on Aug. 25 stating he disagreed with the amounts demanded and contended the dispute centered on Mansfield’s pricing, not non-payment. He said KRSM had objected to the invoices before the lawsuit was filed.

On Aug. 28, U.S. District Judge Gerald Austin McHugh lifted an earlier temporary restraining order that had frozen KRSM’s M&T Bank account but ordered the defendants to keep at least $2.75 million in the account while the case proceeds.

The Freedom Fuel Network, which publicized lower pump prices in a July 7 White House video, describes itself as a privately owned company that responded to Trump’s call for cheaper gasoline. The network’s website claims participating stations saw volume increases of more than 50 percent after price cuts, though those figures have not been independently verified.

Mansfield’s lawsuit seeks damages for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, conversion and related claims, asking for the unpaid amount plus interest, costs and other relief.