PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT’S LATE 

PRODUCTION OF FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

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FORUM LAW GROUP 

Scott F. Kocher, OSB #015088 

811 S.W. Naito Parkway, Suite 420 

Portland, Oregon 97204 

Tel: 503.445.2120 

Fax: 503.445.2120 

EDELSON PC 

Eve-Lynn J. Rapp, Cal. Bar #342892*

erapp@edelson.com

Edelson PC 

2101 Pearl Street

Boulder, Colorado 80302

Tel: 720.741.0076 

Fax: 720.741.0081 

* Admitted pro hac vice 

(additional counsel listed on signature page) 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

DISTRICT OF OREGON 

LORI WAKEFIELD, on behalf of 

themselves and a class of others similarly 

situated, 

 Plaintiff, 

v.

VISALUS, INC., a Nevada Corporation, 

Defendant.

No. 3:15-cv-01857-SI

PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO 

DEFENDANT’S LATE 

PRODUCTION OF FINANCIAL 

DOCUMENTS 

After willfully violating this Court’s order by failing to produce documentation “sufficient to 

disclose its financial condition over the past three years” by March 1, see dkt. 459 at 4, 

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PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT’S LATE 

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Defendant ViSalus, Inc. attached a hand-picked set of documents to its March 15 filing.1 As 

Plaintiff asserted in her March 15 filing, ViSalus’s failure to comply with the Court’s order 

should result in waiver of its arguments in opposition to payment of notice costs or posting of a 

bond. The Court’s March 1 disclosure deadline provided Plaintiff with an opportunity to assess 

ViSalus’s filing and provide any necessary response. And ViSalus’s filing demonstrates the 

wisdom of the Court’s approach. If these documents demonstrate anything, it is that something’s 

off and more questions need to be answered. To wit: 

• ViSalus states that it has $0 in sales revenue, yet it claims to owe nearly $18 million Euro 

in Italian taxes (presumably on sales of its products)? It also states that it has no assets in 

the U.S., but its products are still available for sale in the U.S. at multiple sites. See VI, 

https://vi.com/ (last visited Mar. 18, 2024) and VISALUS STORE, https://www.visalusstore.com/ (last visited Mar. 18, 2024). At a minimum this suggests that ViSalus has some 

assets beyond the two Italian accounts listed in the March 15 filing. 

• Does the company have any contingent or unliquidated claims for relief against third 

parties? These would be considered an asset, and could theoretically be assigned to the 

Class, to cover costs or a judgment. 

• Should Pruvit Ventures, Inc. be responsible for any of these costs? Any user who attempts 

to purchase ViSalus products is redirected to the Pruvit website. Further, Declarant Nick 

Sarnicola states on his own website, About, NICK SARNICOLA, 

https://nicksarnicola.com/about (last visited Mar. 18, 2024), that “Recently, Vi sold to 

1 This information is relevant not only to the current issue of whether ViSalus should cover the 

costs of notice or post a bond to secure a future payment, but also to whether Class Members will 

be able to recover following a claims process. Plaintiff and her counsel are not inclined to front 

the costs of notice and additional time if at the end of the day neither they nor the class are able 

to recover what they are entitled to from the jury’s verdict. 

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Pruvit International and Lacore Nutraceuticals concluding their 15 year run.” Reporting 

in 2019 suggests this clam is true. ViSalus Quietly sold off to Pruvit?, BEHINDMLM (Dec. 

16, 2019), https://behindmlm.com/companies/visalus/visalus-quietly-sold-off-to-pruvit/. 

Ordinarily, of course, an equity purchaser also assumes a company’s debts, but that 

depends on the structure of the sale. How is this sale structured? And what happened to 

any funds that ViSalus received for this sale? 

• While ViSalus provides limited information about its U.S. and Italian assets, it provides

nothing about its “various subsidiaries headquartered outside of the United States, dkt.

460-2 ¶ 19, and Mr. Sarnicola indicates on his website there are 16 that are unaccounted

for. About, NICK SARNICOLA, https://nicksarnicola.com/about (last visited Mar. 18, 2024)

(“Body By Vi produced 3.5 million health transformations in 18 countries on its run”). 

• Ultimately, the main question is how is it that ViSalus—a company that has made over $2

billion dollars and was still making $9 million a year when it lost the jury trial in this

case—can state with a straight face that it can’t bond class notice, let alone pay the class

members’ claims for which it was found liable? It seems obvious that there have been a

series of (likely fraudulent and offshore) transactions that it is afraid will be clawed back

by the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee should it file under Chapter 11.

ViSalus’s self-serving, barebones submission hints at no legitimate answers to these questions. 

Because it flouted this Court’s order, ViSalus should be deemed to have waived any 

argument that it cannot pay a bond or notice costs. And the documents submitted by ViSalus 

likewise do not carry its burden to avoid payment of notice costs or a bond. Plaintiff believes that 

just like it has continued to find the funds necessary to pay their counsel to litigate this case to 

the Supreme Court, if the Court orders ViSalus to pay for the claims process or bond the amount 

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PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT’S LATE 

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necessary the money will be posted. Indeed, why else would it care about the number of 

claims or the manner of their submission? 

Respectfully submitted, 

LORI WAKEFIELD, on behalf of themselves and 

a class of others similarly situated,

Dated: March 18, 2024 /s/ J. Aaron Lawson 

EDELSON PC 

Rafey S. Balabanian, Cal. Bar #315962* 

rbalabanian@edelson.com 

J. Aaron Lawson, Cal. Bar #319306*

alawson@edelson.com

150 California Street, 18th Floor

San Francisco, California 94111

Tel: 415.212.9300

Fax: 415.373.9435

Eve-Lynn J. Rapp Cal. Bar #342892* 

erapp@edelson.com 

Edelson PC 

2101 Pearl Street 

Boulder, Colorado 80302 

Tel: 720.741.0076 

Fax: 720.741.0081 

FORUM LAW GROUP 

Scott F. Kocher, OSB #015088 

811 S.W. Naito Parkway, Suite 420 

Portland, Oregon 97204 

Tel: 503.445.2120 

Fax: 503.445.2120 

DOVEL & LUNER, LLP 

Simon Franzini, Cal. Bar #287631* 

simon@dovel.com 

Gregory S. Dovel, Cal. Bar #135387* 

greg@dovel.com 

201 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 600 

Santa Monica, California 90401 

Tel: (310) 656-7066 

Fax: (310) 656-7069

Case 3:15-cv-01857-SI Document 462 Filed 03/18/24 Page 4 of 5
PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT’S LATE 

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I, J. Aaron Lawson, an attorney, certify that on March 18, 2024, I served the foregoing by 

causing true and accurate copies of such paper to be transmitted to all counsel of record via the 

Court’s CM/ECF electronic filing system. 

/s/ J. Aaron Lawson 

Case 3:15-cv-01857-SI Document 462 Filed 03/18/24 Page 5 of 5