Pretty sure that these stories have made the rounds on many of the boards (the second one from law.com has been online since April - so any 2024 recruit with Google should have reasonably been able to read it before inking a NIL deal with Ruiz):
www.law.com
TL;DR Version: Ruiz is the target of multiple federal civil and criminal investigations. His company MSP Recovery Inc (AKA "LifeWallet") is on the precipice of being de-listed from NASDAQ. And its share price has dropped from its $10 IPO price to $0.22 (not a typo - you read that correctly - 22 cents per share).
Why am I posting this on a CFB message board? Because I know for an absolute fact that two players who ultimately signed with UGA were giving a bedazzling NIL pitch by Ruiz that included stock shares as a central tenet of their financial proposals. Ruiz tried to sell these players and their families on "investing in growing long-term wealth" and "building financial literacy beyond football" and blah, blah, blah. The cash that they were offered was modest. A lot of the NIL value being reported by the media included the high point valuation of the shares (which are now basically worthless). In the end, the players that I know obviously preferred the cold hard cash in Athens over the smoke and mirrors in Coral Gables.
In other words, if I were Marquise Lightfoot, I'd cash that check and sell those shares ASAP.
Facing Nasdaq Delistment, John Ruiz's LifeWallet Grapples With Its Ambitious $32 Billion Valuation | The American Lawyer
After a disastrous IPO, the company continued to value some of its assets at pre-IPO share prices.
www.law.com
TL;DR Version: Ruiz is the target of multiple federal civil and criminal investigations. His company MSP Recovery Inc (AKA "LifeWallet") is on the precipice of being de-listed from NASDAQ. And its share price has dropped from its $10 IPO price to $0.22 (not a typo - you read that correctly - 22 cents per share).
Why am I posting this on a CFB message board? Because I know for an absolute fact that two players who ultimately signed with UGA were giving a bedazzling NIL pitch by Ruiz that included stock shares as a central tenet of their financial proposals. Ruiz tried to sell these players and their families on "investing in growing long-term wealth" and "building financial literacy beyond football" and blah, blah, blah. The cash that they were offered was modest. A lot of the NIL value being reported by the media included the high point valuation of the shares (which are now basically worthless). In the end, the players that I know obviously preferred the cold hard cash in Athens over the smoke and mirrors in Coral Gables.
In other words, if I were Marquise Lightfoot, I'd cash that check and sell those shares ASAP.
