A woman who helped cheat banks by falsifying financial information on applications for more than $15 million in loans was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 27, to 18 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

Bethany Mockerman, 42, helped a Eugene man, Michael Malekzadeh, with whom she had been romantically involved, run Zadeh Kicks LLC.

The now-defunct business failed to fulfill $65 million in online sneaker orders, despite collecting money upfront for preorders of limited edition and collectible shoes, prosecutors have said. 

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael McShane said Tuesday that Mockerman had no criminal history and cooperated with investigators. 

In March, Mockerman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, with fraud taking place from 2013 to about March 2022, according to court documents.

Malekzadeh was sentenced earlier this month in U.S. District Court to 70 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

“He was coercive and controlling,” McShane said, saying that Mockerman was less culpable than Malekzadeh, whom he said exerted some degree of emotional control over her.

But he described the amount of fraud as “staggering.”

In a sentencing memo filed in court, prosecutors said the loan applications did not accurately report expenses such as the cost of inventory, preorders and information about creditors. Mockerman “claimed the official title of Chief Financial Officer” for the business, according to the sentencing memo.

“It’s not just a couple of cooked books. It’s about a decade’s worth of completely overcooked books,” McShane said. A restitution hearing has been set for March 31.