Nearly 60K Pairs Of Kicks From ‘Sneaker Ponzi Scheme’ Will Now Go On Sale

We’ve all heard of Ponzi schemes, but one involving sneakers? That’s new. And now, nearly 60,000 pairs of shoes hidden away by “the Bernie Madoff of sneakers” are set to be sold to the public via a court-appointed auction. 

The multimillion-dollar fraud plot had come to light just weeks ago, when Michael Malekzadeh, the former owner of Zadeh Kicks LLC, was charged after being found to have cheated customers out of a whopping US$85 million. 

Now that he’s been caught, court documents seen by Bloomberg revealed that 59,780 pairs of sneakers involved in the scam have been lined up for sale, with the first 1,100 pairs coming from Malekzadeh’s personal collection of new and used shoes. 

That’s not all. His warehouse, which Footwear News describes as “closely guarded,” holds between US$12 million to US$20 million worth of shoes, or 4,746 YEEZYs, 4,626 Adidas kicks, and 48,339 Nike shoes—of which many are believed to be highly sought-after Air Jordans. 

Other sneakers from Vans, Asics, New Balance, Converse, Puma, and Reebok will also be included in the upcoming sale, at which the court hopes to sell as many kicks as possible to reimburse the thousands of customers who never received their orders. 

However, experts have said that even if all of sneakers are sold, the amount raised will not match what the victims were defrauded of in the scheme, with some unlikely to ever get their money back. 

It may seem rather strange to be buying shoes from a warehouse full of defrauded customers’ stock, but if it means they get some money back, it’s certain sneakerheads will no doubt be gunning for the most valuable of the lot. 

[via Bloomberg and Footwear News, cover image via Pindiyath100 | Dreamstime.com]