Visalus, owned by Texas-based LaCore Enterprises, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

As per the filing, signed by Niklas Sarnicola, Visalus owes “less than $3,024,725” to “more than 100,000 creditors”.

Visalus’ Chapter 11 petition cites a recent $925 million judgment for robocall fraud. The company claims the judgment “far exceeds the Corporation’s available cash”.

A look at a filed list of creditors reveals, after the $925 million judgment, Visalus owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to lawyers and Verizon.

Curiously, Visalus’ filing also states it “has no operating business”.

Niklas (Nick) Sarnicola, along with Ryan Blair and Blake Mallen, co-founded Visalus in 2005.

Following several controversies (espionage hacking, mass layoffs, an Amazon retail racket and securities fraud class-action), Visalus was sold off to LaCore Enterprises in 2019.

Under LaCore Enterprises Visalus was essentially folded into Pruvit, another LaCore Enterprises company.

Blair and Mallen haven’t been associated with Visalus for some time. Sarnicola popping up in Visalus’ bankruptcy filings is odd but not unexpected.

While he hasn’t publicly had anything to do with Visalus for years, Sarnicola recently resurfaced as co-founder of Shoply.

Shoply is, you guessed it, another LaCore Enterprises company. Despite announcing prelaunch in mid 2024, a visit to Shoply’s website today reveals it has only just recently launched “version 1 beta site”.

Under “Vi” branding, Visalus’ products are available through Shoply.

Getting back to Visalus’ bankruptcy, it’s filing states the company “wishes to manage the liquidation of its assets in a cost-effective and rational manner”.

I’m not 100% sure on the legalities but I assume “Visalus Inc.”, a Nevada company, has been sectioned off from the rest of LaCore Enterprises.

A meeting of Visalus’ creditors has been scheduled for January 8th, 2025.

Bankruptcy proceedings are typically difficult to follow on the legal side of things. That said, if there any significant updates we’ll keep you posted.