St. Louis Man Sentenced To 13 Months For Nike Fraud

ST. LOUIS, MO — While some are burning their Nike's, others are scheming to get rich selling heavily-discounted Nike merchandise at a profit. Or, at least they were, federal prosecutors say. David Reichert, a 51-year-old St. Louis man, was sentenced today to 13 months in federal prison for wire fraud in what authorities say amounted to a $769,000 embezzlement scheme.

Until earlier this year, Reichert worked as a wholesale account executive for Nike and, according to court documents, began giving a business partner massive discounts on Nike-branded merchandise to re-sell at two local sportswear stores, Fan-a-Mania and JJL Sports, both apparently now defunct. Fan-a-Mania appears to have been located in the West County Mall, while the address listed for JJL Sports is a south county residential property north of Mehlville.

Reichert managed the accounts of both companies without disclosing his ownership stakes to Nike, prosecutors said.

"By 2012, Reichert was giving extraordinary and unauthorized discounts averaging more than 57% to both companies — and thus to himself," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. (Nike is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon.)

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Reichert offered nearly three times the discounts to his own stores as to any of the other wholesale accounts he managed, prosecutors said. In total, the discounts exceeded $769,000. Earlier this year, Reichert pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, and as part of the plea agreed to pay restitution to Nike.

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