60,000 Pair of High End Sneakers Are About To Hit The Market Care Of An $85 Million Dollar Ponzi Scheme The FBI Broke Up

Bloomberg - On clearance: 48,339 pairs of Nikes. And 4,746 Yeezys. And 4,626 Adidas.

In all, a neatly boxed 59,780 pairs of shoes — nearly enough to shod all of Palo Alto or Pensacola — from a man authorities have portrayed as the Bernie Madoff of sneakers.

Almost one month after federal prosecutors accused Michael Malekzadeh of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme involving coveted sneakers, a court-appointed receiver is looking to unload a trove of status-y shoes squirreled away in his warehouse.

Among the first to go: 1,100 or so pairs from Malekzadeh’s personal collection, both new and used, according to court documents. 

Federal prosecutors charged Malekzadeh, 39, of bilking customers out of more than $70 million and falsifying loan applications for more than $15 million in bank financing. Earlier this month, Malekzadeh pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and money laundering.  In May, he dissolved Zadeh Kicks, which he had been running since 2013. 

Zadeh Kicks pocketed $70 million from the pre-sale of one model of Air Jordans alone, the 11 Cool Grey, prosecutors say. The total amount of money owed from all pre-sales has yet to be determined.

His warehouse is now being guarded by a security officer. Experts say the cache, still boxed and tagged, could be worth anywhere between $12 million and $20 million — at best. 

Being called "the Bernie Madoff of sneakers" is a tough look. Ouch.

As for the hundreds of morons who were conned out of more than $70 million dollars from this bozo, salute!

We discussed situations like this on Eddie and Chief's Dog Walk a couple weeks ago in regards to WeWork and Adam Neumann.

It always blows my mind (legitimately) when stories like this come out about people, who for the most part are smart and honest, hardworking people, just THROWING their money at scumbags and conmen. 

Bernie Madoff played upon people's Fear Of Missing Out (and greed) and it seems like in today's corner cutting, instantaneous results climate, everybody is just looking for the next way to get rich and not have to take the long way. 

The fact somebody basically put together a fund for high end sneakers and was able to raise $70 million is truly insane. 

Did this guy have a deck where he laid out what they'd be buying, from who/where, and what they could get for a return? Or was he just appealing to sneakerheads and those people who make a living on StockX bleeding kids and people who can't wait overnight in line at Nike Town for a shoe release dry? I have so many questions.

Either way, if you got taken in this scam you gotta be pretty embarrassed no? Imagine explaining this one to your wife, or your financial advisor? 

"Yah honey I know real estate and the market are the safest sure bets long term, but this guy said he could have got his hands on a pallet of grape Jordan 5's. Grape Jordan 5's!"