Miami mega-booster John Ruiz, who called out Nick Saban, under investigation
Miami mega-booster John Ruiz, who’s been at the center of the NIL conversation with the Hurricanes, is under investigation.
Law firm Bronstein, Gerwitz and Grossman, LLC, is investigating MSP — Ruiz’s company — to determine if the company and “certain of its officers and/or directors have violated federal securities laws.” MSP recently went public, and its share price has already dropped 86% in the last week.
“On May 24, 2022, less than an hour after its merger with SPAC Lionheart Acquisition Corp. II, a deal valued at $32.6B, the newly public MSP stock dropped over 60%, thereby damaging investors,” Bronstein, Gerwitz and Grossman said in a release.
Ruiz, a lawyer and Miami alumnus, has been a key part of NIL at Miami and has helped line up deals for athletes. Hurricanes guard Isaiah Wong and Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack are among the athletes to sign agreements with LifeWallet, and Wong reportedly issued an ultimatum to Miami to increase his NIL income. Ruiz is reportedly planning to work with him on more NIL opportunities.
But Ruiz also called out Alabama coach Nick Saban last month after the Crimson Tide headman gave critical comments about the state of NIL. He compared Saban to a “teenager whining” about the state of the game.
“Shocked, shocked that somebody in the business for such a long time and on top of his game was totally clueless of what all of this means,” Ruiz said, via the Miami Herald. “He basically said, ‘I’m losing my market dominance because of everything that is going on and then starts … throwing everyone under the bus.”
Miami was among a group of teams Saban called out during an event in Birmingham, including Texas A&M and Jackson State. Saban specifically pointed to Pack’s LifeWallet deal as part of his remarks.
“These guys from Miami that are going to play basketball there for $400,000,” Saban said. “It’s in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he’s doing it. But the NCAA can’t enforce their rules because it’s not against the law, and that’s an issue, that’s a problem. Unless we get something that protects them from litigation, I don’t know what we’re going to do about it.”