Zadeh Kicks Founder Jailed For $80M Sneaker Fraud Scheme

As sneaker culture has grown into a booming business, as with any market, fraud is inevitable.

It weaseled its way into the reseller market with Michael Malekzadeh, the owner of Zadeh Kicks LLC, who was charged in a criminal information with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and money laundering in 2022.

Zadeh Kicks was one of the most premier and trusted reselling platforms for people who missed out on releases and didn’t mind paying a few extra bucks to secure their pair.

But that trust was lost after he was accused of wire fraud and bank fraud conspiracy, and he was recently sentenced to 70 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to those charges in March 2025. Once his sentence is completed, he’ll be on supervised release for another five years.

The 42-year-old started the company in 2013, reselling rare kicks, but as demand grew, he began selling preorders for sneakers that hadn’t yet released, which is when he ran into trouble.

The Justice Department’s filing says Malekzadeh “advertised, sold, and collected payments from customers for preorders knowing he could not satisfy all orders placed,” which led to him owing “customers more than $65 million in undelivered sneakers.”

But it wasn’t just the loyal sneakerhead customers that Malekzadeh betrayed; it was also the banks he got loans from, defrauding the institutions out of $15 million. He schemed them by altering bank statements on more than 15 bank loan applications alongside his co-conspirator.

He used that $80 million to fund his lavish lifestyle, which the feds disrupted by seizing millions of dollars, luxury watches, jewelry, “hundreds of handbags,” and about $7.5 million from the sale of his Oregon home, along with his Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Porsche. The forfeiture totaled more than $15 million, with restitution to follow.

“This million-dollar fraud was fueled by the defendant’s insatiable greed and wreaked havoc on the lives of his victims and their families—delaying home purchases, retirements, and engagements,” said Scott E. Bradford, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. “Michael Malekzadeh fed his lavish lifestyle by cheating his customers, collectors, and investors out of millions and defrauding banks. The sentence imposed today reflects the seriousness of these crimes and should serve as warning to anyone contemplating fraud as a get-rich-quick scheme.”

Now that the founder of Zadeh has been officially sentenced, see the sneaker world’s reaction below.