Michael Rutherford has been a Pruvit affiliate for over eight years.

Through “Ketones Rule”, Rutherford and his family live off “approximately $60,000 to $80,000” a month in generated Pruvit commissions.

Allegedly without warning or prior notification, Pruvit stopped paying out Rutherford in April 2023.

So far alleged owed commissions to Ketones Rule is $181,393 and climbing.

Seeking to recover that amount plus damages, Ketones Rule filed a civil suit against Pruvit in Texas on May 17th.

Through Ketones Rule, Rutherford has sued Pruvit for breach of contract.

As alleged by Rutherford in his Complaint;

Pursuant to Section 7.3 of the Policies and Procedures, Pruvit is required to provide counseling and an initial warning letter prior to suspending Ketones Rule’s Commissions.

On April 13, 2023, Pruvit suspended Ketones Rule’s earned commissions.

Pruvit never provided counseling before suspending Ketones Rule’s earned commissions.

Pruvit also did not provide any warning letter to Ketones Rule before suspending its commissions.

Pruvit had no basis to suspend Ketones Rule’s commissions under the Policies and Procedures.

Rutherford claims legal counsel for Ketones Rule contacted Pruvit on May 9th, seeking a “legal basis” for its decision.

Rutherford claims he never heard anything back, but suspects

Pruvit unlawfully suspended Ketones Rule’s commissions based on Pruvit’s CEO and Board Member, Brian Underwood, using his power and authority within the company to direct the suspension.

Rutherford alleges Underwood is after 50% of Ketone Rules’ monthly commissions.

On information and belief, Underwood directed the suspension because he is attempting to force Ketones Rule’s principal, Michael Rutherford, to sign an agreement with him for approximately 50% of Ketones Rule’s commissions.

The allegation is based on Jenifer Grace, a Pruvit Board Member and legal representative of parent company LaCore Enterprises, notifying

Ketones Rule’s counsel that Pruvit would release Ketones Rule’s commissions if Rutherford agreed to sign an “agreement” with Underwood.

Ms. Grace’s comments strongly suggest that Pruvit suspended Ketones Rule’s commissions to force Rutherford signed an agreement with its CEO, Underwood.

If you’re wondering why the CEO of Pruvit is shaking down a top earner, apparently it’s because Pruvit isn’t paying their executives.

Upon information and belief, Underwood is demanding that Rutherford sign the agreement before Pruvit releases Ketones Rule’s earned commissions because Underwood needs the money himself in light of Pruvit’s C-Suite payroll being frozen.

Pruvit not paying its executives is news to me and certainly odd. The obvious conclusion is Pruvit might financially be in bad shape.

Unfortunately Rutherford’s Complaint doesn’t get into that.

In suing Pruvit for Breach of Contract, Ketones Rule is seeking

  1. compensatory damages;
  2. “an injunction requiring Pruvit to immediately release the suspension on Ketones Rule’s commissions”; and
  3. legal costs

On May 25th Ketones Rule filed an Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction against Jennifer Grace.

In the motion, Rutherford argues that if Ketones Rule’s commission suspension isn’t lifted;

Ketones Rule risks bankruptcy and Rutherford and his family will face perilous financial hardship.

Ketones Rule only has $1,047.92 available in its bank account, it desperately needs this Court’s intervention to prevent irreparable harm.

In addition to Rutherford’s family, Ketones Rule’s also can’t pay its staff.

Without Ketones Rule’s earned commissions of $181,393.18 owed by Pruvit, Ketones Rule is not able to pay any of the foregoing individuals and companies that keep Ketones Rule in business.

Without their assistance (because Ketones Rule cannot afford to pay these contractors), the Ketones Rule team would become suspicious and would be wary of remaining with Pruvit.

The team is already becoming suspicious because Ketones Rule was not able to upload a call replay today (May 25, 2023).

If this continues, then it will have a snowball effect on the ability of Ketones Rule to continue.

As previously stated, the original Ketones Rule’s Complaint didn’t get into why Pruvit stopped paying its executives.

In the Emergency Motion however, we get an alleged explanation.

Underwood needs money because Pruvit has suspended all C-Suite payroll checks while it attempts to go public.

Something else that was left out in the original Complaint is that Rutherford was apparently gifting Brian Underwood 50% of Ketones Rule’s commissions prior to March 2023.

Sometime in late March, Rutherford informed Pruvit’s CEO, Brian Underwood, that he was no longer able to financially gift him nearly half of all of Ketones Rule’s commissions.

Rutherford had been giving Underwood a portion of Ketones Rule’s commissions for a number of years because

(1) he erroneously believed he had to based on Underwood’s position in Pruvit, and

(2) Underwood bullied him into doing so.

Reading between the lines, it appears Underwood wanted to put this arrangement on paper. Rutherford objected and so we have a dispute.

With respect to Pruvit going public, we also learn;

Rutherford explained that Ketones Rule’s overall commissions had dramatically decreased recently, so he did not have the financial ability to gift some commissions to Underwood.

Rutherford paints Underwood as a “bully” who wished to continue funding his “lavish lifestyle” by “taking Rutherford’s money with nothing in return.”

The agreement also contained highly punitive provisions, including providing a security interest in Rutherford’s personal assets like his bank accounts, vehicles, and his home furnishings.

It also contained a provision purporting to provide a security interest in Rutherford’s commissions from Pruvit.

Rutherford’s pushback purportedly left Underwood “irate”.

When Rutherford explained that the agreement was too punitive, Underwood became increasingly aggressive.

On April 8, he texted Rutherford: “If I don’t hear from you by Monday I am going to take action starting with my attorneys in which we will get the company involved to stop paying that check all together until we come to a settlement and it will go through the legal process.”

Three days later, Underwood texts again, “If we don’t talk by tomorrow I am going to just take action to make sure we can get to a settlement.”

On or about April 13, 2023, Pruvit—without any warning—suspended Ketones Rule’s commissions.

Underwood’s defense appears to be an alleged ownership stake in Ketones Rule, which of course Rutherford denies.

To the extent Ms. Grace’s believes that there is a dispute in ownership over Ketones Rule’s position, this argument is also baseless.

Ketones Rule—and Ketones Rule alone—owns the position as it has for years. Even if Rutherford were to have transferred Ketones Rule’s rights to its position to Underwood (which he did not), Pruvit would have had to affirmatively given prior written approval to do so, which never happened.

A hearing on Ketones Rule’s requested TRO and injunction was held on June 16th.

At the hearing it was agreed that 50% of Ketones Rule’s withheld funds would be paid to Rutherford. The other 50% would be “held in escrow until (resolution of the) preliminary injunction (motion)”.

Another hearing has been rescheduled for August 3rd.

Brian Underwood and Michael Rutherford’s MLM business dealings go way back.

BehindMLM came across the pair as co-founders of Rippln in early 2013.

Rippln, a social network MLM company, ended in disaster a year later in early 2014.

Pruvit launched in 2015, with Brian Underwood as CEO and Michael Rutherford as Master Distributor. This was the same setup as Rippln.

In a 2022 puff-piece on “Brian Underwood’s Full Circle Mentorship Strategy“, Rutherford and others from “Brian’s tutelage” were asked

what they have absorbed from him over the years, the role of mentorship in their professional journey, and how they pass that on to the members of their teams.

To which Rutherford replied;

I’ve had a few very hands-on mentors that have sculpted every single step of my growth and success.

I owe everything to them. I build the day to day business exactly how it was taught to me.

Given their history I strongly suspect this one will be settled before trial. Even so, it remains to be seen if Pruvit’s “bully” CEO and Master Distributor can bury the hatchet.

Pruvit’s financial position, with our without going public, is also an ongoing concern.

I’ve added Rutherford’s Ketones Rule v. Pruvit lawsuit to BehindMLM’s case calendar. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to track the case.

 

Update 21st June 2023 – Brian Underwood has filed a motion to intervene in the case, arguing that there isn’t a party to represent his interests.

Rutherford and Pruvit meanwhile have reached an agreement pending a decision on Rutherford’s requested injunction.

The agreement returns to the 50% split status quo Rutherford had with Underwood.

 

Update 4th August 2023 – Rutherford, Underwood and Pruvit have reached an undisclosed settlement.

 

Update 26th June 2024 – Alleging violations of the reached settlement, Rutherford has sued Pruvit again. Details of the previously confidential settlement are disclosed in the suit.