Sneaker News In November 2023, James Whitner — founder of The Whitaker Group — was named in a court document detailing an international money laundering scheme worth millions of dollars. Today, The Whitaker Group reveals that it has been cleared of all allegations following a federal investigation.
The original report, which was filed through Dena J. King on November 17th in the Western District of North Carolina, alleges that Whitner got involved with Chinese nationals in a “trade-based money laundering” operation centered around Whitner’s connection with an unnamed sneaker company in Oregon, which is presumed to be NIKE, Inc.).
At the time of the court case, Whitner was not charged, but had to forfeit the unreported $1,199,530 USD he was aware of and seized from Freeman’s residence in New Jersey. The Whitaker Group officially forfeited the money as it chose to not file a claim for the cash seized by prosecutors. The final deadline to claim the money was on September 13th, 2024.
Official Statement by The Whitaker Group
“Following a thorough investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina (USAO) into James Whitner and The Whitaker Group. The office has declined prosecution based upon, among other things the sufficiency of admissible evidence to support prosecution. This outcome reaffirms our stance all along of the integrity of our business, the transparency of our operations and the regulatory compliance of all our tools, platforms and processes that allow us to serve both community and consumers effectively.
All throughout this investigation, your trust in our mission and support for our team, our work and stories has been invaluable, THANK YOU! We are appreciative of the extraordinary support of our vendor partners as we worked to bring this investigation to an end.
As we move forward and set our sights on the future, we are excited to keep building a legacy of excellence, telling the stories and building experiences that shape community and culture. We look forward to continuing this journey together and seeing you all in our spaces along the way.”
Despite the initial allegations, the Whitaker Group and NIKE, Inc. continued to work together on creative projects. Currently, it is amidst a six-shoe capsule called “While You Were Sleeping”. As of the publishing of this article, three of the six shoes have already released. The latest, the Air Jordan 4, will be dropping again on September 26th at select Jordan retail partners.
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