Who Supplies Freedom Fuel?
Strong Evidence Suggests the Trump-linked Gas Stations are Self-Dealing
In our most expensive investigation to date, Effort has obtained records which indicate that operators of the Trump-promoted Freedom Fuel Network are selling to themselves.
Freedom Fuel has been a mystery since its launch. On July 7, the White House published a video promoting Freedom Fuel, days after its first stations advertised gas at $3.47, a nod to Trump, the 47th president. Traders suspected the stations were selling so far below market price that they were almost certainly losing money1. At the heart of this mystery is where Freedom Fuel is getting their gas.
Freedom Fuel Relationship Tree
Shamikh and Syed Kazmi are petroleum distributors and gas station operators with a long history of legal issues. They manage eight freedom fuel stations owned by Blue Owl. Shamikh or Mohammad Kazmi incorporated three separate UGC entities in Pennsylvania. Two of those entities are located at 1400 Dreshertown Road and 10960 Bustleton Avenue respectively, both current Freedom stations.2
Based on State fuel licenses, court records, federal truck inspections, shipping-directory data and Freedom Fuel’s exposed .git objects3, Freedom Fuel is highly likely to be supplied by US Diesel, a company which shares ownership information with UGC Brands, the operator of eight Freedom Fuel Stations.
Effort identified code in an archived Freedom Fuel website linking UGC to more Freedom Fuel assets. In the assets for that site, 25 locations were marked with “category”: “ugc” and “brand”: “UGC”. A field-by-field comparison matched 13 of those locations exactly to the current Freedom list and found seven more likely matches4.
UGC has a history of simultaneously operating gas stations and fuel supply. Until 2023, UGC advertised its “Wholesale Fuel Supply”, “Rack Purchase”, “Branded Fuel”, and “Unbranded Fuel” products. Before or during April 2024, it changed its website to a fourteen day countdown timer with the text “Will be back better then ever shortly.” Two years and four months later, that fourteen day timer remains at ugcbrands.com.5
A chain of contracts links US Diesel to the Freedom Fuel stations. US Diesel’s own product sheets list its website as ugcbrands.com, next to US Diesel’s official phone number6.
Public records confirm US Diesel supplies fuel terminals used by MR3 Logistics. Separate records confirm that MR3 Logistics delivers fuel from those terminals and delivers to Freedom Fuel stations. MR3 Logistics also has a documented history of delivering UGC fuel purchases. Filings in a lawsuit by PMG showed that UGC used MR3 and another firm, Orbit, to lift 231,246 gallons from Gulf Oil’s Woodbury terminal in 2021. US Diesel and MR3 both partner with Energy Transfer, which owns terminals they deliver to and from. Federal inspections of MR3 trucks name ET/ETP Westville as one of their sites, while US Diesel’s public TrueTMS records show their destinations to PBF Essington and Energy Transfer Twin Oaks. The Westville, Essington and Twin Oaks terminals are all listed under Energy Transfer Marketing & Terminals LP, according to the IRS. This establishes a clear logistics chain between US Diesel and UGC-owned stations.7
In summary: UGC is the known operator of 8 Freedom Fuel stations and is associated with 20, per website artifacts. US Diesel, a petroleum supplier likely managed by UGC, delivers to Energy Transfer terminals. MR3 takes fuel from those terminals and delivers to Freedom Fuel stations.
Putting it all together, US Diesel likely supplies UGC-operated stations with below market rate gas, keeping hidden subsidies, reserves, or other sources of cheap gas within the UGC/US Diesel network. Vertically integrated control explains why no supplier, transporter, or producer has leaked where Freedom Fuel sources its gas.
Footnotes
1 https://www-cdn.abcnews.com/amp/US/trump-promoted-discount-gas-stations-fuel-mystery-questions/story?id=134625546
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/08/07/freedom-fuel-praised-by-trump-sells-cheap-gasoline-how/. ↩
2 https://apnews.com/article/4fc52c7ad19bf29790cf618176839447
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-njd-3_22-cv-02410/pdf/USCOURTS-njd-3_22-cv-02410-1.pdf
Pennsylvania incorporation records. ↩
3 State fuel licenses
Court records
Federal truck inspections
Shipping-directory data
Exposed .git objects
US Diesel
UGC Brands. ↩
4 archived .git records list 25 stations with “category”: “ugc” and “brand”: “UGC” with 13 exact matches and 7 likely matches. Current Freedom list. ↩
| 2200 Island Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19142 | Exact |
|---|---|
| 6243 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19139 | Exact |
| 3919 Edgmont Ave, Brookhaven, PA 19015 | Exact |
| 3201 W Ridge Pike, Eagleville, PA 19403 | Exact |
| 6801 Tilton Rd, Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234 | Exact |
| 10960 Bustleton Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19116 | Exact |
| 160 NJ-73, Marlton, NJ 08053 | Exact |
| 1520 County Rd 539, Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087 | Exact |
| 898 NJ-73, West Berlin, NJ 08091 | Exact |
| 3101 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19132 | Exact |
| 4043 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19141 | Exact |
| 3811 Hartzdale Dr, Camp Hill, PA 17011 | Exact |
| 100 W Byberry Rd, Philadelphia, PA 19116 | Exact |
| 6800 E Baltimore Ave, Lansdowne, PA 19050 | Likely |
| 6601 Market St, Millbourne / Upper Darby, PA 19082 | Likely |
| 400 Baltimore Pike, Springfield, PA 19064 | Likely |
| 4612 Edgmont Ave, Brookhaven, PA 19015 | Likely |
| 1400 Dreshertown Rd, Dresher, PA 19025 | Likely |
| 6501 Delilah Rd, Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234 | Likely |
| 17 Street Rd, Southampton, PA 18966 | Likely |
| 1453 S Hanover St, Pottstown, PA 19464 | No match |
| 299 E Street Rd, Feasterville-Trevose, PA 18974 | No match |
| 1209 Wilmington Pike, West Chester, PA 19382 | No match |
| 1360 Street Rd, Southampton, PA 18966 | No match |
| 1697 E Street Rd, Bensalem, PA 19020 | No match |
5 https://web.archive.org/web/20230812041118/https://ugcbrands.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/20240418234408/https://ugcbrands.com/#welcome. ↩
7 Filings in a lawsuit by PMG
Energy Transfer (IRS)
Federal inspections
TrueTMS records for PBF Essington
Energy Transfer Twin Oaks
Separate records. ↩