Trump-backed Freedom Fuel Network facing $4M federal lawsuit
The company and owner behind Freedom Fuel Network gas stations are being sued for millions of dollars.
The gas station endorsed by President Trump has two locations in Detroit.
The Freedom Fuel Network gas station on McNichols Road and Third Avenue in Detroit was busy Monday afternoon, and with prices currently at $3.67 per gallon, it's not hard to see why.
"I stay in this neighborhood. I stay maybe a 15-minute drive, and I pass all the other gas stations, and they're obviously a lot higher, so I come here," said Detroit resident James David Brown, from Detroit.
According to AAA, the average price of gas in Michigan is $4.14 per gallon. That's slightly above the national average of $4 per gallon.
"It's just too extreme right now. You know, still too high. The economy is really up on everything: food, clothes, everything. Shipping. If you're online trying to shop, it's just too much," said Detroiter Shanelle Reid.
A 10-page federal lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania by Mansfield Oil alleges that KRSM Inc. and its owner never paid the supplier for about $1.1 million in gallons of gas worth about $4 million.
"I was wondering why the gas prices were so cheap. And I appreciate that, but I didn't know that they had a lawsuit against them," Reid said.
The lawsuit claims that KRSM was able to sell the fuel at much lower costs to get publicity because it never paid the supplier, and that the defendant has failed to make any payment.
"Hopefully they'll get it together and go ahead and pay their bill, and so people can keep their gas station in the neighborhood. It's a good gas station. I can honestly say I think this gas lasts better than a lot of gas stations I went to," said Janet Lee of Detroit.
KRSM has previously denied those allegations.
Meanwhile, consumers in Detroit say what matters most to them is lower gas prices.
"I'm just an everyday consumer trying to get back and forth to work, trying to, you know, get to the grocery store, trying to take care of, get ready for the holidays. So it's not good on any level, but just on the consumer level, I can go with what's cheapest," Brown said.