Errol Andam’s controversial and spectacular rise from the petty streets of Los Angeles to Nike’s top designer ended badly on Thursday, when federal prosecutors accused Andam of defrauding his former employer by $ 1.4 million.
Andam, 49, known for his volcanic temperament and ten-inch mohawk haircut, was accused of electronic fraud, money laundering and false statements in a loan application.
Prosecutors have been working on the case for more than two years since Andam left Nike in late 2018. Nike officials reportedly brought the case to the attention of prosecutors.
“He no longer works for the company,” said Nike spokesman Greg Rossiter in 2019. “We will cooperate with any government investigation.
Andam could not be reached for comment. Contacted by phone months before today’s criminal case was revealed, he told The Oregonian / OregonLive to leave him alone. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a message on Thursday afternoon.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Please don’t call me back.”
Andam worked at Nike for 17 years, moving up the corporate ranks of a retail store in Los Angeles to the position of mid-level marketing manager. Several Nike contractors and former Nike co-workers told The Oregonian / OregonLive that Andam had a demanding and temperamental personality.
They said they held on because he was the keeper of Nike’s millions of dollars of marketing money.
Suspicions that Andam was somehow deceiving Nike have haunted him for years, according to contractors and former colleagues. He frequented the best clubs in South Florida, co-workers said, and they wondered how he could afford it with his Nike salary.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused the former Nike employee of defrauding the company and basically stealing $ 1.4 million from the shoe giant. The government says that in 2016 Andam recruited a childhood friend to start a new company, apparently in the construction business, exactly the type of temporary or pop-up facilities in which Andam specialized.
Andam secretly controlled the company, prosecutors say, even preparing the invoices for Nike. He reportedly signed the documents under a pseudonym – Frank Little.
Andam also allegedly diverted revenue from sales of Nike’s temporary stores, known as pop-ups, which the company usually builds in conjunction with major sporting events, according to federal accusations.
Andam has opened up a wide range in the Portland marketing scene.
SET Creative, in northwest Portland, was Andam’s local contractor. More than a dozen former SET employees have told The Oregonian similar stories about the long hours and difficult working conditions at SET due in large part to Andam’s constant presence.
Nike is the lifeblood for a small but vibrant ecosystem of Portland design firms, marketing stores, photographers, manufacturers and other experts. Nike’s favor could mean the difference between prosperity and bankruptcy for some of these companies.
This helps to explain why so few are willing to speak publicly about Andam. They fear that in doing so, they will be rejected at Nike.
Mindy Hay was the one who agreed to speak. She worked at SET for two years and dealt extensively with Andam and said she was shocked by the federal charges.
“I’m delighted,” she said. “People like him are never caught.
“Errol made my life a living hell the whole time I was there,” added Hay. “He was horrible, so abusive, the kind of narcissistic abuse. I think (SET) managers were afraid of him, afraid of losing his business, that he would destroy any reputation they had. “
SET officials did not return calls.
Andam was the only person charged in the case.
His specialty was the large, eye-catching temporary exhibition that Nike usually sets up in a city that receives a great deal of athletic competition. Partly a retail store, partly an interactive sports museum, partly a tribute to the Swoosh image, they are known in the business as “experiential marketing” efforts.
Despite demanding a lot of work, a good experiential marketing project is seen as a way to build a much deeper emotional connection between the brand and the customer than ordinary advertising.
A classic example was Nike’s Los Fearless event, held in 2011 in conjunction with that year’s NBA-All Star game. A few blocks from the Staples Center arena, Nike built a huge basketball court complex in the barren alleys under the highway overpasses and organized a tournament for local players. The place was filled with classic cars and other references to local Latin culture.
These projects were generally big-budget issues and set up on tight deadlines. This led to a pressure cooker environment. Hay remembers a night when contractors realized that a large batch of steel supports needed for an exhibition had never made it to the site.
Andam demanded that SET send the steel by plane to the site. Hay started work and reported to Andam that the price would be $ 280,000. Andam approved without blinking, she said.
Jeff Manning
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