Adidas sued a sneaker leak account for extortion — then dropped the case itself

Sole Retriever, a sneaker-release news account with 174,000 Instagram followers, regularly posted early images and details of unreleased shoes. On March 12, 2026, Adidas America sued Sole Retriever and its founder Harris Monoson in Oregon federal court, alleging they conspired — possibly with the help of Adidas employees at its Portland headquarters — to obtain confidential CAD renderings, pricing, release dates and collaboration details for signature shoes tied to NBA players Anthony Edwards and Donovan Mitchell.

The complaint went further than a leak claim: Adidas said Sole Retriever tried to extort preferential access to product information and events by threatening to publish the stolen designs, then posted them anyway when Adidas refused. Adidas sought Sole Retriever's profits from the alleged theft, which it estimated at more than $75,000, plus damages for trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement. Sole Retriever denied the claims and called the suit an attack on a sneaker media outlet's protected speech.

On June 17, 2026 — three months after filing, and before the case reached discovery deadlines the court had set for July — Adidas filed a notice voluntarily dismissing the entire action with prejudice, permanently barring itself from refiling any of the claims against Sole Retriever or Monoson. Neither side disclosed a settlement, and each side covered its own legal costs.