Source: @zadehkicks / Instagram
It’s been more than a year since infamous sneaker reseller Zadeh Kicks was taken down by feds for fleecing countless customers out of millions of dollars, and now it seems like the state of Oregon has a bone to pick with him, too.
Nice Kicks is reporting that Zadeh Kicks founder Michael Malekzadeh has failed to pay the state of Oregon more than $19 million in back taxes and was publicly put on blast by the Oregon Department of Revenue as his name was one of 2,000 Oregon residents who owe more than $50,000 to the state. Being that his business is shut down, the feds have seized all of his remaining merchandise and his reputation is shot to hell. We’re not sure he’ll be able to pay the $19,302,486.13 that he owes the state anytime soon.
Nice Kicks reports:
Last May, Michael Malekzadeh surrendered the reigns to Zadeh Kicks when it voluntarily entered into receivership ending the nine-year-old sneaker resale business. In July of 2022, Malekzadeh and his CFO Bethany Mockerman were indicted with charges of Wire Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud, and Money Laundering associated with the Zadeh Kicks business. Malekzadeh and Mockerman have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Federal prosecutors accuse Michael Malekzadeh of knowingly selling shoes he could not obtain by pre-order that include 600,000 pairs of Cool Grey Air Jordan 11s totaling more than $70M.
Keep in mind there were 1 million pairs of Cool Grey Air Jordan 11’s produced at the time of release and Malekzadeh was out there basically saying he could get ahold of 60% of Nike’s entire stock. The audacity.
This just goes to show how cold the sneaker game is these days and if you don’t have a reliable plug out on these streets, you have to be careful when dealing with resellers and pre-sellers as you never know when they’ll be down to run off with your money.
Be safe out there my fellow sneakerheads.
