WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his administration have been vocal cheerleaders for the Freedom Fuel Network, a patriotically themed convenience store chain selling gasoline at $3.47 per gallon — a nod to Trump being the 47th president.
But piecing together who actually runs the Philadelphia-area chain has been no easy task. According to records, the network — which launched just last month — is operated by a loosely connected group of businessmen: an NFL kicking coach, a Republican fundraiser, and a New Jersey entrepreneur who, along with his brother, was ordered this year by a court to pay civil damages for unlawfully taking more than 200,000 gallons of fuel.
How the chain managed to get on Trump’s radar remains unclear. All four men behind the venture either declined to speak with reporters or could not be reached for comment.
One thing is certain: Trump was a fan of the discounted prices. The president publicly celebrated the network’s gas rates just before the July 4th holiday weekend, a period when consumers were already dealing with elevated oil prices driven by the conflict with Iran.
“I am pleased to announce that a VERY smart Retailer, located throughout the Northeast, is stepping up,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on July 1. “America has never been stronger than it is now, and Gas Prices will soon be back to the Record Low Prices Americans enjoyed at the pump before our very successful ‘excursion’ in Iran.”
The White House followed up with a post on X several days later, celebrating the opening of the chain’s first location and sharing a video of customers waving cash and expressing gratitude to Trump outside a store decorated with American flags and a golden eagle emblem.
That first location, in Dresher, Pennsylvania, is owned by a subsidiary of Blue Owl Capital, an investment firm, according to records. Trump has held as much as $25 million in Blue Owl stock, though his most recent financial disclosure indicates he has sold nearly all of that position.
The White House denied that Trump has any personal stake in the venture and declined to elaborate on how the project came together. However, it did acknowledge that administration officials had conversations with people involved in setting up the gas station network.
“The Administration is not involved in the company, nor has the Administration given the company any funding. There is no other entity or person subsidizing the lower gasoline costs,” the White House said in a written statement.
Blue Owl owns roughly one-third of the Freedom Fuel properties, but the firm says it leases those locations to independent contractors and “is not involved in the tenant’s operations or business decisions.”
Fourteen of the chain’s 25 locations are tied to companies connected to brothers Shamikh and Syed Kazmi, who have faced a series of civil misconduct allegations, including fraud, records show.
Shamikh Kazmi is leasing eight of those stations from Blue Owl, according to state records and people with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Associated Press connected the brothers to six additional Freedom Fuel locations through records showing those addresses were listed as headquarters for other businesses or were supplied with fuel by the brothers.
A White House official, speaking anonymously to discuss the project, said no one at the White House involved in Freedom Fuel conversations had specifically spoken with Syed Kazmi — a statement that implies discussions did take place with Shamikh Kazmi.
The Kazmi brothers have marketed themselves as elite petroleum distributors with more than 75 years of combined experience and an extensive list of corporate affiliations, according to an archived version of one of their company websites.
However, public records paint a more complicated picture. The brothers have been sued repeatedly by companies they’ve done business with, and legal filings document multiple judgments against them. They have also been accused of hiding their finances and evading process servers as a growing number of former suppliers and business partners sought payment.
In February, a federal judge in New Jersey ordered the Kazmi brothers to pay more than $600,000 to a fuel supplier that accused them of stealing gas. According to court filings, the supplier cut off the brothers after they refused to sign a new contract. The Kazmis then allegedly exploited a security gap to access the supplier’s fuel depot, and over a ten-day stretch in August 2021, tanker trucks made off with more than 230,000 gallons of fuel. A judge ruled in favor of the supplier, finding the brothers had unlawfully taken the gas. The supplier says it has still not been paid.
Syed Kazmi was hit with a $380,000 judgment two years ago in a lawsuit filed by 7-Eleven. The convenience store giant accused him of “dishonest, unethical, immoral” behavior while running a franchise location in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. That store was flagged for unsanitary conditions, including trash problems and a rodent infestation. 7-Eleven also alleged that “tens of thousands of dollars” worth of cigarettes ordered on credit had gone missing.
A federal judge held a company operated by Shamikh Kazmi in contempt in 2022 in a trademark dispute brought by BP America. Although BP had cut ties with Kazmi’s company, Diwan Petrol, two years before the legal action, BP’s signage had not been removed from the gas station as required by a court order. The judge authorized U.S. Marshals to accompany BP employees to have the signage taken down.
A man who picked up a phone number listed for the brothers said he was not the right person to speak with and directed questions to the Freedom Fuel Network’s website — which contains no contact information, phone number, or mailing address. A message submitted through an online contact form went unanswered.
Records from Delaware — a state well known for allowing companies a high degree of privacy — show that Freedom Fuel Network was registered on June 23. The formation document was signed by Randy Brown and Yoni Gontownik.
Politico and the website The Newsground have reported that Brown is a senior special teams coach with the Baltimore Ravens. He has also served as the elected mayor of Evesham Township, a New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia, where one of the Freedom Fuel stations is located. Brown, a Republican, explored a congressional run in 2021, telling a local newspaper he was a conservative and a “proud Trump supporter.”
Gontownik is a former investment director at Mercuria, a Swiss-owned commodities trading company. He and his wife reside in northern New Jersey and have been active with NORPAC, a pro-Israel political action committee, including hosting fundraising events for Republican members of Congress. Neither Gontownik nor Brown responded to requests for comment.
Jeff Lenard, a spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said Freedom Fuel’s deeply discounted price likely means the chain is selling gas at a loss.
“It’s not unusual for retailers to have prices that are different than a market when they’re looking to make a splash,” said Lenard, whose association’s members account for the majority of retail fuel sales in the United States. He added that such promotional pricing typically lasts “a matter of hours or a matter of days.”
Social media posts and gas-price tracking websites show that per-gallon prices at Freedom Fuel locations have begun climbing this week. A station in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, was selling regular gasoline for $3.82 per gallon on Thursday — still 27 cents less than the Sunoco station directly across the street.
The Freedom Fuel Network posted a message on its website this week thanking Trump for his “strong endorsement,” which it credited for the “explosive growth” of the business.
“Despite the misinformation and baseless speculation circulating,” the statement reads, “let us set the record straight: Freedom Fuel Network is proudly lowering its prices to benefit our community.”
