Collectible Sneakers Guilty Pleas
(Eugene, OR) -- The owner and chief financial officer of a collectible sneaker sales website based in Oregon have pleaded guilty to 80-million-dollars in wire and bank fraud. Federal prosecutors say Michael Malekzadeh started his business, Zadeh Kicks, in 2013. He bought limited edition and collectible sneakers and resold them online. In 2020, he started taking preorders before shoes became available. He couldn't fill all of the orders and had 65-million-dollars in undelivered sneakers by 2022. Malekzadeh and Chief Financial Officer Bethany Mockerman filed fraudulent applications and received 15-million-dollars in bank loans. They'll be sentenced in August.



