PORTLAND, Ore. – David Reichert, 51, of St. Louis, Missouri,
was sentenced today to 13 months in federal prison for using his position as a
Nike salesman to procure heavily-discounted Nike-brand merchandise for resale
by two companies he co-owned with a business partner.
According to court documents, as a Nike Inc. salesman and
wholesale account executive, Reichert sold licensed apparel—Nike-brand clothes
and accessories emblazoned with team names and logos—to retailers throughout
the Midwest. Reichert was authorized to give discounts to his customers on the
listed wholesale prices of various merchandise. Such discounts rarely totaled
more than 20% for even the largest and most important customers.
In 2008, Reichert and a business partner bought a sportswear
retailer in the St. Louis area called Fan-a-Mania, Inc. and incorporated a
second called JJL Sports Inc. Fan-a-Mania was a longtime Nike customer whose
wholesale account was managed by Reichert. Reichert managed the wholesale
accounts of both companies without disclosing his ownership interests to his
superiors at Nike. By 2012, Reichert was giving extraordinary and unauthorized
discounts averaging more than 57% to both companies—and thus to himself.
Reichert’s discounts for his own companies were nearly three
times the discounts extended to any of the 25 other wholesale accounts he
managed for Nike. In total, Reichert’s
embezzlement of licensed Nike-brand merchandise cost the company more than
$769,000. In imposing sentence, Senior
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones emphasized the greed underlying Reichert’s
conduct and ordered him to pay full restitution to Nike.
Reichert previously pleaded guilty to two counts of wire
fraud on April 25, 2018.
Nike Inc. extensively investigated these crimes before
reporting them to the FBI. The FBI then independently investigated the matter.
It was prosecuted by Ryan W. Bounds, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District
of Oregon.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment