A Utah MLM went under. Now, a lawsuit claims it was hiding its insolvency.​on June 6, 2025 at 12:00 pm

In the two months since Modere, a Utah-based multilevel marketing company, abruptly shut down, a picture of the company’s finances has started to take form.

This Utah MLM hasn’t filed for bankruptcy, but it was financially “insolvent” before it abruptly closed, a new lawsuit claims.   

In the two months since Modere, a Utah-based multilevel marketing company, abruptly shut down, a picture of the company’s finances has started to take form.

Modere and its executives have not filed for bankruptcy. Shaklee, a nutritional supplement company in Florida, has bought most of the company’s assets, according to a news release issued May 23. But a lawsuit filed last week accuses Modere of being financially “insolvent” — which is why, the suit claims, Modere owes CSB Nutrition nearly $2 million.

CSB Nutrition, based in Spanish Fork, manufactures nutritional supplements and was one of Modere’s largest suppliers, the lawsuit claims. Even before Modere shut down, CSB Nutrition claims Modere was slow to pay its invoices and rarely paid them in full.

“Modere wanted to make just enough payments in attempting to ensure that CSB did not refuse to continue manufacturing existing or new purchase orders,” the complaint says.

Modere also is being sued in federal court by former employees who claim they are entitled to 60 days of wages and were entitled to 60 days of notice — which they did not get — under the federal WARN Act. The suit says Modere had about 160 employees who should have been eligible for the payout and the advance notice of their jobs ending.

[Read more: Here’s why Utah SkyWest workers know a layoff is coming — and Pluralsight employees didn’t]

CSB’s lawsuit includes evidence that even high-level executives at Modere did not see the closure coming. Billy Reif, Modere’s senior director of strategic sourcing and CSB’s main contact, sent a text to CSB co-owner Jeff Bancroft on April 11 claiming Modere “just informed me that they’ll be ceasing operations at 5pm today,” according to court documents.

Until the day it closed, Modere claimed it was growing and profiting, the lawsuit claims. It made “repeated written and verbal” statements to CSB that demand for its products was increasing and that it was “on a growth trajectory,” CSB claims. It bought “very large quantities” of CSB products until the day before it closed, the lawsuit claims.

Weeks before it closed, Modere also announced new products and touted the company’s success at a “major international convention in Prague.”

But behind the scenes, CSB’s lawsuit claims, Modere had “a huge amount of debt” and had failed to secure additional funding from its two private equity owners, who instead “walked away” from the company.

Now, CSB can’t reach Modere. CSB attorneys sent demand letters to Modere’s former in-house attorney, the lawsuit claims, who responded she would make sure it got in the right hands. She has not responded to subsequent messages, according to the complaint.

These new lawsuits follow litigation that’s still pending between Modere and former high-profile employees.

Last year, Modere sued top-tier distributors Amber DeLoof and Brynn Lang, along with Marina Simone and her distributor company Body Fuel Unlimited, Inc., arguing they had breached their contracts by working with a competitor.

But Judge Jill N. Parrish denied the company’s request for a temporary restraining order against the women last May. Modere had chosen to allow people to sign up as independent businesses — not as individuals — and it couldn’t hold the women to clauses in contracts that their companies had entered, Parrish ruled. Modere voluntarily dismissed its suit against the women weeks later.

Body Fuel Unlimited then sued Modere on March 28 alleging trademark infringement. Body Fuel offered a trademarked “5-DAY-DROP” — a weight loss service that includes made-to-order meal plans and dietary consultations, according to court documents.

Modere offered a competing weight loss service with a “nearly identical name — “5 Day Drop” — court documents allege, despite knowing the name was trademarked.

Modere also has a lawsuit pending against former contractor Justin Prince, a Utahn who it describes as “one of the most, if not the most, visible distributor at Modere and possibly the entire direct sales industry.” Prince and Modere have sued each other over claims related to his departure.

Meanwhile, Shaklee is selling Modere products — including those manufactured by CSB, according to the lawsuit — on its website.

Shannon Sollitt is a Report for America corps member covering business accountability and sustainability for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.