A former executive at Nike plead guilty to evading currency importation reporting laws and filing a false federal income tax return. Ronald Hartfeil's last position with Nike ended in 2007, the same year he was accused
of not reporting income from a Korean footwear manufacturer.
The guilty plea follows an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Hartfeil was Nike's global operations director from 2004 to 2007,
according to his LinkedIn profile. He began working for the sporting
goods giant based near Beaverton in 1995, starting as general manager of
Nike's Guangzhou Liaison Office and subsequently as product creation
director, then global operations director.
Hartfeil traveled to South Korea in 2007. When he returned to the United States, he was carrying $20,000 worth of traveler's checks, but he failed to declare them to U.S. customs authorities.
According to the plea agreement, Hartfeil knew he was required to report that he was transporting more than $10,000, but he purposely evaded this requirement. In addition, he mailed an additional $10,000 in traveler's checks to his home in Oregon from South Korea.
The investigation into Hartfeil also revealed that he and his wife Debra L. Hartfeil, 52, jointly filed a federal tax return declaring an adjusted gross income of $1,879,061 for 2007. The income was reportedly earned primarily from Hartfeil's position at Nike.
However, further investigation into the Hartfeil's finances showed that in 2005, 2006 and 2007, they received a $100,000 per year from a Korean footwear manufacturer. This income was not reported on their joint federal income tax returns, allowing the couple to avoid additional tax liabilities of more than $25,000 over a three-year period. Ms. Hartfeil has pleaded guilty to filing a false federal income tax return.
The Hartfeils are scheduled to be sentenced on March 8, 2011.
