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Ex-Nike marketing manager charged in fraud scheme

By Kristopher Fraser

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A former marketing manager for Nike has been charged by federal prosecutors in a scheme to defraud the company of 1.5 million dollars. Billy J. Williams, a U.S. attorney general has charged Errol Amorin Andam, a 49-year-old Beaverton Oregon resident, with criminal information with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements on loan application as part of a plan to defraud Nike.

Andam’s tenure at Nike began in 2001 and lasted until 2018 when he was fired. He was employed at Nike’s Beaverton headquarters. His last position at the company was as their North American Retail Brand Marketing division manager. In his role, he was responsible for designing Nike pop-up shops.

Andam is scheduled to be arrange don March 5 before a U.S. Magistrate judge. He could face up to 30 years in prison and fines up to 4.5 million dollars, following 5 years of supervised release. The FBI and IRS are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. attorney for the district of Oregon, Ryan W. Bounds, is set to prosecute the case.

In a statement, Nike said, “Nike’s internal investigation team uncovered Mr. Andam’s activity in 2017 and after he was terminated from the company, we turned over the evidence to the U.S. attorney. It’s unfortunate that Mr. Andam, who had a job that allowed him access to some of the most exciting events in the world of sport, chose to abuse the trust that Nike put in him. We want to thank the U.S. attorney for its efforts on this case.”

The government claims that in 2016, Andam recruited a childhood friend to establish a new company that was in the business of building the kind of pop-up shops that Andam specialized in. According to prosecutors, Andam actually controlled the company and used his position at Nike to give the new company a steady work and cash flow. Andam even prepared the invoices that were sent to Nike for payment. Andam also diverted revenue from the Nike pop-ups to the company.

Nike has said they will fully cooperate with any investigation. This isn’t Andam’s first run in with the law. In 1994, he pleaded no contest to two counts of possessing a stolen credit card.

Errol Andam
Nike