‘Substantial doubt’ over Miami promoter John Ruiz’s company

John Ruiz, once dubbed “Miami’s King of the NIL” by ESPN, is struggling to keep his castle intact.

The Miami mega-promoter, who has spent millions on NIL contracts for Hurricanes athletes in recent years, told investors this week that there was “substantial doubt” his company, LifeWallet, would remain a going concern, according to an SEC filing.

In the SEC filing, Ruiz said LifeWallet, a large-scale medical claims company, had revenue of $7.7 million last year and a net loss of $211 million. It’s unclear whether the company’s financial woes will impact its NIL agreements with current athletes.

“The Company has concluded that, despite the aforementioned financing arrangements, there is substantial doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern,” Ruiz said in the SEC filing this week. “Unless we are successful in raising additional funds through the issuance of debt or equity securities, we have concluded that it is likely that we will not be able to continue as a going concern beyond the next twelve months.”

Ruiz, a lawyer, is behind the construction of a new football stadium in Miami, in which he has invested millions of dollars.

When the NIL rules were adopted in 2021, Ruiz quickly became one of the faces of the new era. In the first year of name, image and likeness authorization, he reportedly spent more than $10 million on athletes.

Ahead of the 2022-23 season, Ruiz helped reshape Miami men’s and women’s basketball. He played a role in luring Haley and Hanna Cavinder — two of the most popular athletes of the NIL era — from Fresno State to Miami on major contracts. He also publicly announced a two-year, $800,000 NIL contract (including a new car) for former Kansas State point guard Nijel Pack to join the Hurricanes.

When Isaiah Wong, the 2023 ACC Player of the Year, reportedly threatened to leave Miami if he didn’t get more NIL money, Ruiz made it happen and convinced him to stay. That season, the Miami women’s team reached the Elite Eight for the first time and the men’s team made its first run to the Final Four. After the Hurricanes beat Texas in the Elite Eight that year, Miami men’s coach Jim Larranaga hugged Ruiz on the court.

Ruiz told ESPN at the time that he had discovered a model for other schools to follow during the NIL era.

“If you do it right, yes,” he said then.

But the NCAA and federal investigators question whether Ruiz did everything right.

In 2023, the NCAA issued sanctions against Miami — the first related to the NIL — for women’s team coach Katie Meier’s role in inciting a meeting between Ruiz and the Cavinder twins. The SEC and the Justice Department are investigating LifeWallet’s operations.