When Hustle Culture Goes Bad by Laura Mayfield
When Bandy Shane* first joined his local running club, his greatest hope was to get some exercise and maybe work up the courage to talk to another runner. Fast forward two years later, and now Bandy, a self-described “popular boy,” is on trial by Oregon state officials for false friendship and profit share fraud. Bandy maintains his innocence and still continues to claim that people bought $100 beanies “under no duress or false promises.” Oregon prosecutors say they have dozens of witness testimonies that prove that is not true.
According to officials, Bandy deliberately sold merchandise under false premises. Some of those include shamelessly flirting with other members of the group in order to sell his wares, offering beanies at wildly overpriced amounts, and in one egregious case, offering “kudos for cash.”Assistant to the District Attorney, Mike Power said, “This is one of the biggest cases I’ve ever worked on.” Power continued, saying, “Other states like New York and California have let running club merch fraud slide, but Oregon is setting an example to all the scammers who come into our state, to show that you can’t fool us twice.”
One anonymous runner said that Bandy would often make false promises in order to get runners to buy his running club branded merch. The anonymous woman said, in between tears, “Bandy said he would give me Kudos on all my Strava runs if I would just buy one of his branded sweatshirts, “Now I’m out $65 dollars, and he hasn’t even liked my morning run yet! It’s been 3 hours!” It is interesting to note it appeared over Zoom that the woman was wearing the hand-crafted sweatshirt despite being distraught over its purchase.
According to the run club leader, Natalie Beerwagen, no one could have seen this coming, and she has removed herself from any legal responsibilities. “Yeah, I mean I did put Bandy in charge of the merch, but what he did after that is up to him. He said he was a buyer from a very popular luxury car company, and so of course, we all trusted him.” After some research, WRD has found that the extent of Bandy’s “buying” was limited to repeatedly trying to haggle for discounted fries at the local Arby’s. A HR representative from the car company claims to have never hired him and “would definitely not hire him in the future.” WRD found the only evidence of Bandy ever holding a job was as a mascot for semi-pro volleyball games. He appeared as an unlicensed “Wilson” volleyball inspired by the smash 2000 hit Castaway.
Bandy gave Work Retire Die an exclusive interview from under house arrest at his Burnside apartment. He was bald, and he sported Nike sandals and an Adidas tracksuit. Later this reporter learned that mixing athletic brands is a big ‘no-no’ in the fashion industry.
“Hey, if I was on trial for being ridiculously good looking, then guilty as charged, right? But people wanted merch, so I gave them merch. Who cares if it was mainly Sharpie-applied logos? ” admitted Bandy. In a separate conversation, Bandy tried to claim ‘inflation’ was to blame for overcharging his fellow runners. It is important to note that most of the run club branded clothing and accessories appeared to be Bandy’s own clothes, which he altered with extremely toxic-smelling paint and off-brand Sharpies.
Though the court case is still in session, the jury is out as to whether Bandy is guilty or not. Most of the jurors were literally out because they thought it was too rainy to drive out to the courtroom. Experts say the verdict of the case has the potential to put arduous regulations on all running clubs in the country. Silver Medalist Meb Keflezighi weighed in and said that if his local run club was more regulated, then he wouldn’t be where he is today. Meb chuckled and said, “I made more money off those bastards than I did in the Olympics.” Members of Meb’s training club in New York declined to be interviewed for this article.
Regardless of the verdict, all Oregon runners should be cautious giving a running club their hard earned money, especially when they only semi-attend regularly anyway. Look into the run club leader’s backgrounds, and don’t be swayed by flashy promises. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is a scam.
*Names have not been changed as our outlet participates in the NameandShame™ program established in 2020.