My own legal exposure became public when company records reached regulators.

Newspapers ran photographs of me entering a federal building without my usual entourage.

They described years of extortion and illicit payments.

Some accounts were exaggerated; enough were accurate that correcting the exaggerations offered no comfort.

Several employees feared losing their jobs.

That mattered more than it would have to the old Lucas.

A legitimate operations team was appointed to keep essential freight contracts running while investigations proceeded.

I stepped away from management and authorized independent reviews of employment and safety practices.