Former Modere top earner Justin Prince has sued Modere following his termination.

In a Complaint filed earlier this week in the Fourth District Court of Utah, Prince names Modere, Maple Mountain Enterprises, Maple Mountain Group (formerly Neways), James Zenni Jr., George Russell, Z Capital Partners, Z Capital Commercial Finance LLC and Z Capital Group LLC as defendants.

Prince (right) started with Modere when it was Neways back in 2012. Prince cites himself as an equity holder in Modere and responsible for $2.5 billion in sales.

A year ago Prince described Modere as a “world class company” where “people win”.

In his filed Complaint, Prince claims Modere is now “straddled with debt” and “failing”.

Modere came under the control of a private equity investor, Z Capital (in 2013).

Revenues grew and Z Capital seized an opportunity to restructure its debt on the back of Modere, for the benefit of Z Capital and its partners.

The loan proceeds were not reinvested into Modere and Modere was straddled with excessive debt – and poorly management [sic] by its Board of Directors.

Modere’s business began failing as sales declined, resulting in decreased commissions for Justin and other distributors.

Prince claims he was eventually terminated as part of Modere’s effort to “remains financially solvent”.

Modere wrongfully terminated its relationships with Justin, kept the commissions he earned, and usurped Justin’s vast network of nearly 60,000 downline marketers.

This claim appears to be based on George Russell, Modere’s Executive Chair, informing Prince that “Modere was heading for bankruptcy”.

Prince claims in August 2023, Russell told him to

message his downline (to inform them of) planned commission cuts, layoffs, cost cutting and Modere’s CEO Asma Ishaq being stripped of her power.

Ishaq (right) also reportedly told Prince Modere was in dire financial straits in May 2023.

There is a time gap in Prince’s Complaint between August 28th, 2023, wherein Modere laid of 30% of its staff, and October 12th, the date Prince was terminated.

Prince claims his termination came a day before “Modere was to pay (him) nearly $300,000 in both monthly and quarterly commissions”.

Following his termination, Prince goes on to claim Modere is “engaging in a deceitful campaign to defame him and malign his reputation”.

This includes accusing Prince of

disseminat(ing) confidential business information and misinformation to key employees … (and) trying to destabilize Modere’s workforce and recruit them to leave Modere and start a new company with him.

Modere also purportedly held a webinar attended by “nearly 200 distributors”.

Modere told everyone attending the virtual meeting that Justin had committed serious, egregious breaches against Modere, and was colluding with third parties to undercut Modere’s business, hurting not only Modere’s business, but also Justin’s business, Justin’s downline’s business, and the business of those in attendance.

Prince categorically denies Modere’s claims in his Complaint.

Causes of Action cited in Prince’s Complaint include:

  • failure to pay commissions
  • breach of contract
  • breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing
  • interference with existing economic relations
  • unjust enrichment and
  • defamation

Unfortunately I’m not familiar with Prince and his involvement in Modere, so I don’t really have anything to report beyond what’s in his Complaint.

Also unfortunate is Prince’s Complaint being filed at the state-level, meaning I won’t be able to personally track it.

To the best of my knowledge, other than holding webinars Modere has not publicly addressed Prince’s termination.

 

Update 26th October 2023 – Modere has filed its own lawsuit against Justin Prince.