Former Nike Manager Pleads Guilty to Selling Thousands of Stolen Sneakers

In April, former Nike employees Kyle Yamaguchi and Tung Ho allegedly made hundreds of thousands of dollars by flipping sneakers from Nike’s own inventory. Today, Yamaguchi pleaded guilty to transport, receive and sell the goods for shipping a total of 42 pairs to a Florida-based sneaker aficionado named Jason Michael Keating. Keating bought more than 630 limited edition models — which were stolen between 2012-2013 — that amounted to an estimate of $680,000 USD. Yamaguchi is set to pay $50,000 USD in criminal forfeiture, only a small sum compared to the earnings from his scandal, along with five years of probation instead of five years of jail time. During his stint at Nike between 2006-2012, Yamaguchi ordered sample pairs from China to Nike’s headquarters, before flipping them to Keating. Once Yamaguchi left Nike to start his own sunglasses brand LOOK/SEE (which ironically, is the name given to sample pairs), Ho took his position as promotional manager playing the role as a middleman in the operation.