John Ruiz, once dubbed “Miami's King NIL” by ESPN, is fighting to keep his castle intact.
The Miami mega-promoter, who has spent millions on NIL deals for Hurricanes athletes in recent years, told investors this week that there is “substantial doubt” that his company, LifeWallet, is still in business, according to an SEC filing.
In the SEC filing, Ruiz said LifeWallet, a large-scale medical claims company, had earned $7.7 million in revenue last year and suffered a net loss of $211 million. It is unclear whether the company’s financial troubles will affect its NIL agreements with current athletes.
“The Company has concluded that, notwithstanding the aforementioned financing arrangements, there is substantial doubt about 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 offering of debt or equity securities, we have concluded that we will likely be unable to continue operating as a going concern beyond the next twelve months.”
Ruiz, a lawyer, is the leader behind the push for a new soccer stadium in Miami, to which he has committed millions of dollars.
When the NIL rules were passed in 2021, Ruiz quickly emerged as one of the faces of the new era. In the first year of name, image and likeness concessions, he reportedly spent more than $10 million on athletes.
Prior to the 2022-23 season, Ruiz helped reshape Miami men's and women's basketball. He played a major role in luring Haley and Hanna Cavinder, two of the most popular athletes of the NIL era, from Fresno State to Miami on big-ticket deals. He also publicly announced a two-year, $800,000 NIL contract (including a new car) for former Kansas State guard Nijel Pack to join the Hurricanes.
When Isaiah Wong, the 2023 ACC Player of the Year, reportedly threatened to leave Miami unless he received 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 Final Four appearance. After the Hurricanes’ win over Texas in that year’s Elite Eight, 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 in the NIL era.
“If you do it right, yes,” he said then.
But the NCAA and federal investigators have questioned whether Ruiz did everything correctly.
In 2023, the NCAA issued sanctions against Miami (its first involving NIL) for women’s soccer coach Katie Meier’s role in arranging a meeting between Ruiz and the Cavinder twins. The SEC and the Department of Justice are investigating LifeWallet’s operations.
