A grueling court case between Nike and three defendants accused of operating a $680,000 theft ring has finally come to a close.
Following a guilty plea in April, former Nike employee Tung Wing Ho and Florida-based reseller Jason Michael Keating were sentenced to brief prison terms by a Portland judge today, Oregon Live reports. Prosecutors had called for one year and one day sentences for each defendant, while their lawyers pushed for probation. In the end, Ho was hit with a three month sentence, while Keating will serve six months.
"I want to apologize to Nike... My greed got the best of me, and I lost sight of right and wrong," Keating told the judge. According to the allegations, Keating filled the buyer role in the ring, paying nearly $680K for over 630 rare Nike sneakers provided by Ho and another ex-Nike employee, Kyle Yamaguchi, over a two year period.
Ho is a former Nike promotional manager who worked at the brand's Beaverton, Ore., headquarters in 2012. This role gave him access to rare Look See samples and promotional sneakers that many 'heads can only dream of. He then worked closely with Yamaguchi — who was sentenced to probation last April — to sneak the kicks off of Nike's campus and eventually sell them to Keating on the other side of the country.
Juug season? Not quite.
