Greetings friends. We’ve no affiliation with Alden Shoes other than our appreciation for their history and knowledge that they’re one of the top men’s shoe crafters in the United States; some would say the world. So when I saw the family-run shoe company was a victim of massive embezzlement numbering into the multi-millions, and the primary beneficiary seems to be an award-winning producer-host-news anchor turned Kardashian-Paltrow wannabe, my first thought was “damn”.

Read The article by Janelle Nanos here

TV watchers in the Boston area may have wondered how mild-mannered WCVB anchor Bianca de la Garza was on Channel 5 casting the news one day, and the next she was suddenly some super”beauty-product” magnate. According to the article, most of the startup cash for de la Garza’s latest enterprises came by way of longtime Alden Shoe Company’s CFO Richard Hajjar’s pilfering the company’s bank account for years. CFO now stands for “Cops Found Out” because his dumb head and her big butt (inextricably connected it seems) were uncovered by a financial forensics investagtion that has the potential to be made into a film someday. Richard may go down as the biggest scumbag in shoe history.

Something everyone can relate to hit me in the piece. The moment someone who tried to rip you off or owes you money begins a series of pathetic dodges. Hajjar did the classic dishonest duck on calls from Alden’s president. “stopped showing up to work“, texts “not feeling well“, sounding like the classic drug-fiend move. But Hajjar was apparently addicted to lavishing gifts upon de la Garza that would freeze a true player in disbelief. $1.1 million New York City co-op, a Benz, diamonds, handbags—Hajjar broke every rule in so many Hip-Hop songs and other works of fiction, so much that the magnitude of the embezzling seems like only something that a writer of fiction could think! Upwards of 15 Million* dollars stolen directly from this classic shoemaker’s bank!

I stopped by Alden’s 5th Ave shop not long before the COVID-19 shutdown to check out the latest. Did you know Alden makes shoes in multiple widths such as “C” and “EE”? I saw some very cool pebble-grained ones with a cap toe and had a little conversation with the staff about nothing in particular (my favorite activity). I feel bad for Alden and hope they can retrieve these assets. All you guys out there with some crazy buddies that may be miniature versions of Richard Hajjar—giving all of someone else’s money (or their own) away for some… friendship? You might want to speak up and tell your friend to get some game.

• amount fluctuates as additional info’s parsed BUT IT’S A LOT

Thanks again to Janelle Nanos for going in on this for the Boston Globe yesterday