The legal battle between a pair of billionaires won’t happen, after all.
Via Reuters, Monday’s trial over the value of the remaining 20 percent of Pilot Corporation has been canceled. Although no one is saying it, it seems as if the dispute was informally resolved.
The stakes were high between Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and billionaire Warren Buffett. It got nasty, with Buffett’s people claiming that Haslam had promised bribes to Pilot executives in an effort to pump up the value of the company — and in turn the price of the remaining 20 percent. (Haslam strongly denied it.)
Along the way, Haslam’s lawyers acknowledged that federal prosecutors were exploring the bribery allegations. If a settlement has been reached, chances are that the resolution resulted in as much of the toothpaste as possible being put back in the tube.