šŸ˜¬ My Favorite Sneaker Brand Is In Trouble

James Whitmer, the man behind A Ma ManiĆ©re and Social Status, has been named in a pretty big money laundering investigation. The AMM x Jordan collab is one of my favorites, so I'm really curious how this plays out. Here's the details šŸ“ (2 min read)

Image via GQ

A Ma ManiƩre In Trouble

James Whitmer, the man behind A Ma ManiĆ©re and Social Status, has been named in a $32M alleged money laundering investigation. Basically, the allegations are that ā€œA Ma ManiĆ©re owner James Whitner has been selling sneakers to Chinese nationals, who are engaged in what prosecutors are calling a money-laundering operationā€ (via Sneaker Freaker) šŸ˜³

Look, I love this man's shoes, whether weā€™re talking about AMM or Social Status. I personally have never owned a pair of either, but Mikey was lucky enough to get seeded a pair of the Social Status Mac Attacks, and damn I was mad jealous because those were extremely clean and not impossible to get (GOAT listing here) šŸ’§

All the AMM Jordans have been super fire, and Iā€™m worried that with these new allegations directed at Whitmer, who owns both brands, we may not be seeing too many collabs with Nike in the future. For what itā€™s worth, the 4s are probably my favorite AMM x Jordan shoe and go for around $400 šŸ’°

I am not a law enforcement official nor do I work in a North Carolina district court, so I donā€™t have any idea what is actually going on in this lawsuit outside of some fraudulent sales. I am just a humble fan of Nikes and elite collabs and hope that we can continue to see AMM, Social Status and James Whitmer create dope shoes together šŸ‘€

For those of you who want more information on the case, here are some more alleged details per Sneaker Freaker šŸ‘‡

The complaint names a Chinese national, YG, who Whitner has had a business relationship with since 2016. YG would buy the sneakers from Whitner via a broker, who would instruct money couriers to collect US currency from people around New York City. According to one courier, per the complaint, this money was often collected from ā€˜prostitutesā€™ or those ā€˜engaged in other illegal activityā€™.

According to the complaint, Whitner and YG did more than $32 million worth of transactions between November 2017 and April 2022. It also alleges that Whitner did not file the documents legally required for these transactions.

Article by Georgie Gilbert

No newsletter on Friday, so weā€™ll be back next week and probably have some pairs of shoes to giveaway. Everyone enjoy your holidays and wear something fresh to whatever Thanksgiving meal you pull up to tomorrow šŸ¦ƒ

Whatā€™s Happening

Refer 1 friend to Overtime Kicks to get a one time 10% off code on Overtime apparel šŸŽ

Certain styles excluded

Thank you for reading the Overtime Kicks newsletter, if you have any feedback hit that reply button and let us know what you thought šŸ™

If this was forwarded to you, subscribe here šŸ‘‡