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Nike filed a federal lawsuit among three former employees and two other people accused of allegedly stealing and selling sample and promotional sneakers.

(Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian/2013)

A former Nike employee admitted Wednesday to a central role in a

ordered directly from a company factory in China for at least two years.

Kyle K. Yamaguchi, 33, of Portland pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to conspiracy to transport, receive and sell stolen goods for shipping 42 stolen Nike sneakers to a buyer in Florida in April 2013 for $62,000.

Under a plea agreement, an additional charge of interstate transportation of stolen goods was dismissed and Yamaguchi was ordered to pay $50,000 in a criminal forfeiture.

Yamaguchi, who worked as a Nike promotional product manager between July 2006 and January 2012, earlier settled a

and agreed to pay the company an undisclosed amount, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bounds.

Greg Rossiter, a Nike spokesman, said Wednesday that the company has no comment on Yamaguchi's guilty plea or the lawsuit.

Yamaguchi, dressed in a black suit, made no public statements other than to answer Judge Garr King's questions with "yes, your honor" or "no, your honor." Yamaguchi and his attorney, Celia Howes, declined comment after the hearing.

Tung Ho, who took over Yamaguchi's job when he left Nike in 2012, and Jason Keating, a Florida shoe collector, also were sued by Nike and face federal charges in the criminal case.

Yamaguchi's wife, Shu-Chu, and Denise Yee, another former Nike employee, were also named in Nike's lawsuit, but face no criminal charges. It is not clear if Nike has reached settlement agreements with the other four defendants.

Ho, 36, of Portland, pleaded not guilty in July 2014 to conspiracy to transport, receive and sell stolen goods and wire fraud. He was fired from Nike in March 2014.

Keating, 35, of Fort Myers, Fla., also pleaded not guilty in July 2014 to conspiracy to transport, receive and sell stolen goods and receipt of stolen goods.

Ho and Keating are scheduled to appear in federal court for trial on March 10, 2015.

Yamaguchi's cooperation with investigators led to federal charges against Ho and Keating, Bounds said. In turn, prosecutors agreed to seek five years of probation for Yamaguchi when he is sentenced in March 31, Bounds said Yamaguchi had faced up to five years in prison.

While working at Nike, Yamaguchi ordered promotional and sample sneakers from a Nike factory in China and took them from Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, prosecutors said. After Yamaguchi quit, Ho took over his job and the scheme continued with Yamaguchi acting as the middleman in the sales of the stolen shoes, prosecutors said.

Promotional and sample products consist of items usually made for an athlete, team, celebrity or other influential people, and in some cases never become retail products and are of high value for sneaker collectors.

Keating paid $679,650 for more than 630 pairs of shoes that Yamaguchi and Ho stole from Nike between September 2012 to March 2014, the indictment said.

Yamaguchi received a percentage of the shoe sale profits from Keating, who offered them to other collectors and small retailers across the country, prosecutors said.

Police seized nearly 1,950 pairs of Nike sneakers from Ho's home during a raid last March, according to a criminal complaint. He admitted to investigators that he had stolen hundreds of pairs of Nike Look See shoes and either sold them on eBay or through Yamaguchi, the complaint said.

Ho claimed he made $15,000 selling the sneakers on eBay, the complaint said.

According to a federal search warrant, Ho ordered 46 pairs of LeBron James branded sneakers in May 2012 that the company couldn't account for. In February of this year, investigators found one of the pairs of sneakers suspected of being stolen by Ho, a limited "MVP" edition of LeBron IX shoes, advertised on eBay for $20,000.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.