Ellie MD business operations halted by Qyral TRO
Qyral co-founder Hanieh Sigari’s new MLM company Ellie MD has had its business operations halted by court order.
Following Ellie MD’s launch last month, on June 7th Qyral co-founder and Sigari’s estranged husband, Dariusz Banasik, filed for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).
In his TRO motion, Banasik (right) argued Sigari launched Ellie MD “to destroy the limited liability company she and Defendant jointly created.”
Her conduct is nothing less than a massive breach of her fiduciary responsibilities to Defendant and Qyral’s creditors, and, absent issuance of a TRO, her actions will unquestionably cause irreparable harm to Qyral.
The court granted Banasik’s motion the same day it was filed. As per the TRO, Ellie MD is prohibited from (quoted verbatim)
- marketing and selling the same products marketed and sold by Qyral, including Compounded Semaglutide and Tirzepitide weight loss products;
- communicating with and/or soliciting Qyral consultants to perform consulting services for Ellie MD; and
- communicating with and/or soliciting Qyral vendors to perform services for Ellie MD
Sigari has also been ordered to account for funds she allegedly transferred out of Qyral’s account after the appointment of a Receiver, and “refrain from using, sharing or selling” Qyral IP.
After the TRO was granted and later still on June 7th, Sigari filed a motion seeking dissolution of the TRO.
In her motion, Sigari claimed;
The Temporary Restraining Order immediately threatens the livelihood of a substantial portion of the 1,300 consultants who currently depend on EllieMD, LLC (“Ellie MD”) for their livelihood, thereby preventing them from earning a living and supporting their families.
To the extent that any of these consultants left Qyral LLC (“Qyral”) for Ellie MD, the reason is obvious. Defendant Darius Banasik (“Defendant”) destroyed Qyral through illegal acts for which he is currently enjoined and on trial for contempt, ignoring the Court’s orders forcing Qyral’s Receiver to advise both Ms. Sigari and Defendant that he was shutting down the Company.
Ms. Sigari has not received one paycheck from the Receiver and Qyral has not paid her for weeks.
To now grant a TRO stopping Ms. Sigari from going to work at a new company where she and approximately 1,300 consultants can make a living (one they cannot from Qyral, which has not paid its employees and consultants for weeks) is to reward Defendant for his inequitable behavior.
Sigari goes on to argue that Qyral and Ellie MD are “not competing businesses”. This is based on Ellie MD “primarily offer[ing] products and services that are not available on Qyral”.
Further, Ellie MD secured agreements with consultants and vendors without interfering with Qyral’s business, and such consultants and vendors are free to do business where they so choose. And no Qyral intellectual property or resources were used in the creation or ongoing operation of Ellie MD.
The outcome of a scheduled June 12th Status Conference between the parties remains pending.
Update 13th June 2024 – The parties have agreed on terms that will allow Ellie MD to reopen and compete against Qyral.
Darius Banasik is not the owner of Qyral. All of the documents show that its a single member LLC. EIN filing as well as the CA filing all point to the same thing and are public information.
All he has is a tax filing, and based on his past behavior, those signatures could have been forged. Darius Banasik is a fraud that destroyed all of our businesses.
For weeks we couldn’t take a single order because him, his brother, and his polish devs deleted the code from the website. We saw text messages where the receiver BEGGED him to fix the website. He also pulled out the payment processor.
We have seen all of the proof from the court appointed receiver. Darius Banasik belongs in jail for what he has done to that poor mother of his children and to all of us consultants.
PUT HIM IN JAIL JUDGE DAVILLA!!!!! PUT HIM IN JAIL!!! WE ARE ALL VICTIMS OF HIS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR!
Problem is the court has given both of them custody till this is resolved. That order is based on Banasik being a co-owner of Qyral.
When you’re married things can get complicated.
Yes, and that’s a matter for family court, specifically regarding the division of assets. It is not a business issue. Community property laws do not determine the lawful operator of a business. Even if he were a 50% owner, it is illegal to lock someone out of accounts and engage in the actions he has taken. These actions constitute a federal crime.
Furthermore, you cannot simply make allegations that someone has failed in their fiduciary duty and then lock them out of bank accounts, emails, and Shopify accounts, only to conveniently transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars to your brother’s business account under the guise of a “loan repayment”—especially when there is no loan agreement in place. The receivers repeatedly requested contracts and evidence from the Banasiks, but these requests went unanswered. We have seen the screenshots of these requests from the receiver.
I hope everyone understands the criminal and abusive nature of Darius’ behavior, both financially and emotionally. Our incomes plummeted to zero, and the business we worked so hard to build has been destroyed. Now, he wants to introduce Tony Solis as the business operator? What a farce! For the record, Tony Solis is notorious in the network marketing industry for his inability to maintain a job for more than a few months. He is widely regarded as a joke.
I’m not going to argue over ownership when the court itself hasn’t removed either of you from ownership.
As long as you both have a controlling interest as per the court’s orders you’re both co-owners of the company.
As someone who knows Darius Banasik personally, I’d advise that you NOT do business with him in any capacity.
He has purposely shut down the supply chain with no regard for customers going without medication, or his sales team going without pay. He is a master manipulator and looks like Tony Solis is the latest one to fall under his spell.
Tony took on the new role of Qyral president without even knowing the company was actually being controlled by a court appointed receiver. Looks like someone didn’t do their homework.
Hopefully he escapes the Banasik brothers before it’s too late.
As somebody who has been personally affected by the actions of Darius Banasik, I took the time to inform my customers of the factual events that have happened over the past couple of months.
tiktok.com/t/ZTLEeH39K/
I think you are missing the point. There were 800 of us independent consultants making a living selling Qyral products mainly through relationships we built in-person and online. Now this man has destroyed that and our reputation.
All Qyral consultants have left because our customers have not received their refunds for orders placed in April, employees havent been paid payroll, and we consultants are owed commissions. This goes beyond any divorce asset dispute.
This is a story of a man who hacked his exwife’s company, stole money, and deleted the website without caring he was deleting the hopes of our patients and my ability to pay bills and feed my family.
I think you’re missing the point. This is an article covering ongoing legal proceedings involving Qyral and now Ellie MD.
If you’d bothered to check you’ll have seen BehindMLM has covered proceedings since the initial filing. Allegations from both sides have been covered.
That said you’re free to add your experience and opinions in the comments. So long as they’re on topic that’s what the comment section is for.
From the perspective of a neutral third-party, we’ll continue to report on proceedings as they unfold.
I can speak from personal experience that Hanieh nor Darius have a clue how to run an MLM. They roll out products and compensation plans without having any infrastructure in place then frantically attempt after the fact to get everything in place.
When they initially rolled out the GLP1 medications in April 2023, they pre-sold the product and promised to begin shipping within 2 weeks of the pre-sale.
What actually happened is it took over a month or more for customers and consultants to begin receiving their scripts because once they took everyones money, THEN Darius began running around the country to get the pharmacy accounts in place so they could begin shipping.
He even states this in the lawsuit as he defends his roll in the company that Hanieh diminishes and lies about in her declaration.
This woman is lying under and says he had a very limited roll in the company when that is so untrue. He was completely in charge of the backend of that company and she knows it.
She is the face, she builds the relationships and helps with products, but that is it. He managed every aspect of the backend of that company.
The leaders there are snakes and are lying to keep people in the company. The whole situation is disgusting and bottom line, neither Hanieh or Darius have any business running an MLM, Qyral or Ellie MD.
All 1300 of their consultants should run. And 1300 consultants in 5 years is not that impressive anyway, that should speak volumes to people because if there are 1300 people in their system they would be lucky if half of those are actually actively working their business.
Ellie’s never going to make it and Qyral is done for. People need to run.
Qyral even rolled out their MLM compensation plan in July 2023 without it being coded in the system, so their consultants did not get paid from the end of June to almost the end August.
More fun facts, now Hanieh has leaders telling the field at Ellie that it would be crazy for them to launch all of the products they had at Qyral immediately because it would just be too overwhelming, not just to the consultants, but it would probably be overwhelming to the customers.
They’re claiming it is because if you know anything about MLM you want a small methodical growth, you don’t want to hit the top (they call them pop flops) you pop to the top then you flop because that’s not sustainable and not how you create generational wealth. HAHAHAHAHA! They’re so full of it.
Bottom line, if you’re following the lawsuit, you can see that Qyral’s financials were upside down and starting a company costs money which I guarantee Hanieh doesn’t have.
THAT is why they’re not really launching the products they had at Qyral, it doesn’t have anything to do with popping and flopping and everything to do with money.
Why else would they wait forever for these consultants to have everything they already waited for over at Qyral to launch if Hanieh is as concerned as she claims in the lawsuit about her consultants not being able to make money. She is such a liar. Shame on all these people.
Man, one side Hanieh is so pretty, my brain stops working the moment I see her face. On the other side, the whole transition from Qyral to Ellie is so shady, no wonder the TRO was granted quickly.
That said, Danius also has a very horrible past when it comes to his conduct during SimpleGlobal. Overall, it’s a clusterfuck, and not sure how any consultants are going to stay associated with this madness, the whole point about being a consultant is to avoid this drama.
Hanieh could have benefited by staying away from Qyral for a bit, not hyping herself up and starting a new company immediately, just take a job for a bit and come back to this business after the divorce and everything is settled, and given her libido, have some solid sex to get over the hyper energy.
Danius looks like a done case, he lost his SimpleGlobal business, now he has ruined Qyral. I would suggest he get a job at chipotle soon.
You know the most ironic thing about all this is Hanieh Sagari isn’t nor is she advising consultants to follow her own company’s non-solicitation agreement.
Qyral’s Consulting Partner agreement specifically states:
Ellie Md’s Non-Solicitation Agreement states:
Funny how the rules seem to get thrown out the window for shady CEO’s when it benefits them. If a consultant left on their own and did this they would be sued and drug out in Federal Court.
As someone who has never been involved in either of these companies and has never met either of them this is my personal opinion of the dealings.
While I believe the truth is probably somewhere in the middle of both of their tales, this is what I know after reviewing the legal filings:
The court does not just “halt” the business of any company without just cause. Darius would have to show proof of wrongdoing.
If you read the documents he certainly at least provided enough doubt and question of potential wrongdoing, especially when it comes to finances of the company and the damage to Qyral by Ellie MD.
Other comments on this thread from brand partners indicate that Darius does not own the company, he is the one who has ruined everything, they have seen emails / text messages and clearly are siding with Haneih and the new Ellie Brand.
What is being ignored is that when reading the actual filings Darius is the only one providing any evidence to support his claims. He has provided copies of emails from Google, pharmacy reps, bank statements, copies of emails from employees and withdrawals to Robin Hood Investment (even showed where in the books this was falsely designated as “marketing”).
Hanieh has not provided proof against any of those, if they exist, where are they??? The only thing she provided was an CA LLC document in which, she is listed as the company AGENT and CEO not a sole owner.
Darius provided information/ documentation to show he was most definitely an active part of the Qyral executive team and he provided copies of multiple years of signed tax returns showing that both are listed as 50% owners of Qyral.
Brand Partners are apparently being told that those documents may have been forged, really? For the multiple years that they were TOGETHER he falsified that portion?
If these were false documents, or were altered, why has she not provided the unaltered ones? If these were the ones filed, and that was not true, then are they both are guilty of filing false income tax returns?
Brand partners believe that Darius brother had no contract with Qyral, however, it is already proven that the brother owned the account to the phone(s) that were shut off that were being used for Qyral, and he apparently also owns the rights to the website.
It is not likely he would have any type of control or interest in either of those if he did not have some kind of financial backing/ investment/ interest in the business that they were both aware of (or if Hanieh was actually the sole owner, she surely would have known he had control of those assets.)
Regardless of any of that, California is a community property sate, and both spouses have an equal claim to any assets or debts acquired during the marriage including businesses.
To my knowledge, no claims by Darius have been PROVEN false. No documentation has been provided by Hanieh, just written declarations with little to no exhibits or attachments.
Even something as simple as the claim that she states she has a masters in biochemistry when he says she does not, this could easily be proved false, but instead her attorney says “this is not in question” – relevant or not, it is probably the most simple of the claims to prove and cast doubt on Darius, yet she has not.
He accused her of telling a friend to put weights in her pants to falsely qualify for meds, the response was “discussing a patient’s health information is protected under law and should not be discussed.”
She doesn’t deny the claim, just that it is unfounded and a personal attack.
In Haniehs recent filing it states: “Qyral and Ellie MD are not competing businesses as they operate in different spaces and offer different products and services” they then reference a Hanieh declaration as their “proof”. This is already proven false by Darius Exhibits showing advertising from the Qyral site of customers weight loss results from purchases through Qyral and those exact same photos now being used as advertisements on Ellie MD for weight loss, as well as the advertising by their own brand partners. To say they are not competing and do not sell the same products is as clear of a lie as black is to white. To say they operate in different spaces when the consultants from one are being moved to the other is a complete contradiction as those consultants are the primary customers of the products.
In the same filing it states, “Ellie MD secured agreements with consultants and vendors without interfering with Qyral’s business.” Then again only references the prior declaration of Hanieh as “proof”.
Since the majority (if not all) of Ellie MD consultants were encouraged to leave Qyral to come to Ellie (against their own non solicitation agreement), this also is a proven lie as there is no way 1300 consultants can be encouraged to leave one company and not “interfere” with the other business. (1300 number was provided by Hanieh and represents nearly the same number of people she stated were with Qyral in her first declarations and now states are with Ellie Md.)
This “interference” was proven by Darius when he provided video proof of a Qyral leader explaining the entire detailed process of “moving” from Qyral to Ellie MD including a special ”code” for existing Qyral brand partners.
She goes on to say that the products at Ellie MD will be cheaper and “Why would somebody NOT want to come over for cheaper pricing than what they were paying with Qyral initially?”
She also encourages and instructs Qyral consultants to have their customers request refunds from Qyral and re purchase the products from Ellie MD. ( a Receiver has been in charge of the financials for two months now and 7 of those weeks were prior to Haneih resigning, if the pharmacies are not shipping due to payments not being received, I am not sure who is to blame. I would find it difficult to pin it solely on ONE of them without seeing the financials.)
These actions by Haneih and those representing and recruiting to Ellie MD most definitely interfere with the business of Qyral.
The filing also states that “no Qyral intellectual property or resources were used in the creation or ongoing operation of Ellie MD.” However, in the same video proof provided by Darius, it is stated that Ellie MD will “transfer over” and honor any points earned from Qyral consultants towards the Ellie MD Cabo trip and convention – if no Qyral IP is being used how can Ellie MD possibly know who has what points?
Also, how has Hanieh / Ellie MD been able to send out blast emails to people that have NOT yet signed with Ellie Md but were consultants of Qyral?
Darius also provided proof that internal employees from Qyral were already having “Ellie MD onboarding calls” with existing Qyral consultants while they were employed with Qyral and the video states that “This is not something Hanieh decided to do yesterday”, indicating she was working on plans for the company prior to ever resigning from Qyral.
I am sorry, but every one of these examples is absolutely involves the use of Qyral Intellectual Property.
My personal opinion after reading the filings is that likely, neither of them are telling the full truth.
However, it does appear that Darius is at least providing exhibits and documentation that support his claims while Haneih is providing a story. The only proof is the constant reference back to her own declarations, which have no proof attached.
This case is so familiar to that of the Lash company that closed where the CEO also constantly referred back to her own declarations as “proof” in legal proceedings.
She continually lied to the field making up stories to fit her own “truth” and recruited affiliates from her own company to another company to keep money flowing to her pocket , and somehow some people still believed her.. until they were smacked upside the head with reality.
At this point, I believe the consultants are so enamored by Haneihs’ marketing of herself they don’t want to believe otherwise. It is so much easier to just “follow” what someone else tells you do rather that take hours to read the actual court filings and see both sides along with the actual evidence provided to the court.
Simple for a leader to tell the “pieces” of the story that support the vision of a company to them, what they WANT to see, what they WANT to hear – it is easy to put on blinders as long as it will keep money flowing and benefit them.
If she is telling the truth, I apologize for my opinion – maybe she just needs a better attorney who will actually provide supporting documentation and not just refer back to her own story.
Just because it was filed in a declaration doesn’t make it fact or true without proof.
I don’t know why anyone would want to continue do business with either of them as there are now other telehealth companies offering the same type of products for less without this drama.
I guess the judge saw through everyone’s bullshit and granted her the right to operate Ellie.
Update is on my radar for today, thanks.