California sneaker seller says LAPD, Nike ‘devastated’ his $12M biz in ‘illegal’ raid — and even seized Kobe Bryant kicks

Nike and California cops teamed up to crack a sneaker theft ring — and in the process allegedly torpedoed a luxe goods reseller loved by celebs like Drake, Morgan Wallen and Beyonce.

Andre Ljustina started collecting sports and fashion items when he was just 5 years old and his parents let him get a Nike Air Michael Jordan basketball jersey.

Decades later, he launched Project Blitz and it took off, reaching $12 million in annual sales — with customers like country singer Wallen and rapper Drake stopping by for the latest drip.

Project Blitz owner Andre Ljustina said his company has ground to a halt since the January 2024 raid. Getty Images

But the company “has ground to a nearly complete halt” since Jan. 27, 2024, when the LAPD and Nike officials allegedly raided two of his warehouses.

“LAPD and Nike’s illegal actions immediately devastated Ljustina’s business,” the 46-year-old said in a California Federal Court lawsuit against the police and Nike.

Ljustina’s business sells everything from Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Gucci and Chanel to various Nike products — including items autographed by celebs.

Authorities believed they were hot on the trail of scammers working at a Nike warehouse in Tennessee who were intentionally misdirecting “unreleased” merchandise in 2023 and 2024 to Roy Lee Harvey Jr., who lived in the Los Angeles area, according to the lawsuit.

Harvey was arrested and charged with 27 counts of receiving stolen property, police said. He pleaded not guilty, and records show the case is ongoing.

In the raids, authorities seized more than 5,000 items from from a variety of companies as well as Nike, and the Nike products were “obviously not unreleased Nike footwear as of mid-2023,” Ljustina said in court papers.

“Some items were signed by famous athletes, such as former Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant, who had died years before the Harvey scheme allegedly commenced,” he noted.

The LAPD quickly took to social media to boast about the raid — “before Nike could even review the Nike merchandise to determine whether it might be stolen,” Ljustina said.

Suddenly, business partners shied away from Ljustina, “for fear of being connected to stories of stolen merchandise,” he claimed.

He was also “effectively blacklisted” by the companies whose products were taken from the warehouse, Ljustina said.

Adding insult to injury, Ljustina still hasn’t gotten most of the seized products back — and those that have been returned were “in worse condition than when it was seized,” with branded packaging indicating their value trashed.

Nike and the LAPD later blamed each other for refusing to return the items.

Nike declined comment on the litigation. The LAPD nor nor the city attorney responded to messages.

“Nike and the LAPD wrongfully destroyed Andre’s livelihood by taking essentially the entirety of his Nike collection without legal justification,” Ljustina’s lawyer, J. Alejandro Barrientos, said in a statement. “Andre intends to get the justice he deserves,” the attorney added.