Hardbody Supplements

Hardbody Supplements believes the optimal path to business expansion involves dusting a dash of courtroom chaos onto your whey isolate. What began as an uplifting narrative of a spousal team peddling verdant elixirs and “intense” dietary regimens has evolved into a chronicle of multi-million-dollar embezzlement accusations, automatic verdicts, and publicity gimmicks so obvious they’re as see-through as a nutrient-packed frappe. Strap in, esteemed audience: I’m here to guide you through the warning signals and negative press encircling Hardbody Supplements and its affiliated ventures, and illuminate precisely how frantic they’ve grown in muting the data that might spare prospective backers—and overseers—a ton of grief.

From Sudden Triumph to Backer Catastrophe

Hardbody Supplements LLC exploded into prominence in 2016 as a nutrition add-on firm vowing natural, non-GMO pre-exercise blends, whey isolates, and slimming protocols produced at FDA- and GMP-certified plants in North America. By 2019, Inc. magazine was raving about its “26,000% three-year sales surge” and a stellar No. 9 position on the Inc. 5000 roster—stats that could dizzy even the savviest private equity mogul. Backers Nathan Barns, Susannah Kilpatrick, and Darren Kilpatrick shelled out $500,000 for an undilutable 50% share, wagering on openness and equitable collaboration. Rather, they discovered themselves barred from the ledgers and pondering if they’d inadvertently secured prime viewing to a grand-scale illusion act, where the sleight was vanishing fortunes.

The Barns v. Payne Embezzlement Charges

In October 2022, Barns and the Kilpatricks initiated proceedings in Kansas federal tribunal, asserting that proprietors Lawrence and Patricia Payne “disbursed over $500,000 to themselves in 2019 and at minimum $1.5 million in the initial quarter of 2020,” all whilst declining to furnish full fiscal statements or permit a consortium session to audit the accounts. Per the filing, enterprise capital was purportedly diverted toward McLaren and Lamborghini acquisitions, baubles, gemstones, and even digital collectibles—opulent outlays that scarcely advanced Hardbody’s genuine merchandise array. The action alleges violation of agreement, deceit, violation of trustee obligation, undue benefit, and misappropriation, and demands restitution of unlawfully acquired profits, reparations, and court-ordered disbandment of the firm.

A Defiant Denial of Records

Arguably the most arch-raising element of Barns v. Payne was the Payne litigants’ evidentiary maneuvers—specifically, a total rejection to generate a confidentiality roster and a mulish resistance to disclosing correspondences. The bench rebuked them for “supplying deficient details in the confidentiality roster to evaluate each component of the claimed exemption,” and mandated them to deliver a sufficient roster and yield all non-exempt, pertinent records. In plain English: Hardbody’s originators attempted to shelter behind jargon and nebulous demurrals to maintain backers—and the bench—in the dark regarding the funds’ destination.

Automatic Verdict in 8fig, Inc. v. Hardbody Supplements

If one legal action seemed ample, imagine Hardbody Supplements when your site-development supplier drags you to court. In early 2024, 8fig, Inc.—a firm offering funding and sales-driven expansion aid—launched a case in the Western District of Texas, claiming agreement violation and neglect to compensate for delivered aid. When Hardbody and its originators neglected to reply, the bench issued an automatic verdict against Hardbody Supplements LLC, Lawrence Payne, and Patricia Payne on March 4, 2025. That stings.

Additional Actions, Additional Turmoil

And the blows persisted:

Swift Funding Source Inc. v. Hardbody Supplements, LLC witnessed a filing on August 27, 2024, indicting Hardbody and connected outfits (encompassing Hardbody Coaching and Hardbody Energy LLC) of neglecting to uphold funding pacts.

MR. Advance LLC v. Hardbody Energy LLC et al., lodged February 26, 2024 in New York State Supreme Court, enumerates a slew of respondents—Hardbody Energy LLC, Payne Capital LLC, Hardbody Supplements LLC, Acceleration Labs, and Hardbody Coaching LLC—charging agreement violation and pursuing reparations.

Velocity Capital Group LLC v. Hardbody Coaching LLC, submitted January 6, 2025, indicts the mentoring branch of yet another cycle of pact lapses and overlooked remittances.

Should you be tallying, that’s a minimum of five distinct civil proceedings in under two years—all sketching an image of a firm and its originators incapable or reluctant to settle their dues.

Negative Press and Publicity Veils

When judicial battles fell short, Hardbody’s originators evidently sought to shape the storyline. FinanceScam.com’s October 8, 2024 revelation states that Lawrence Payne was “accused of hiding fiscal ledgers and pilfering funds for private gain, alongside his enterprise, Hardbody Supplements.” The identical piece denounces Payne’s “bogus publicity” strategies—saturating AccessWire, Crunchbase, and sundry obscure channels with effusive bios to submerge adverse reporting—an tactic so frantic it resembles an admission.

Phony Testimonials and Digital Interference

Concurrently, on online retail sites, an odd occurrence surfaced: fortnights post the originators’ social-media-chic triumph tales debuted, “fabricated adverse critiques surfaced on Hardbody’s profiles from what the originators presumed were adversaries.” Irrespective of whether these critiques were authentic patron gripes or staged assaults, they underscore a firm swift to accuse opponents instead of tackling merchandise or aid flaws.

Efforts to Muffle the Facts

This entire juridical and publicity scheming indicates a unified push to suppress or veil injurious data:

Withholding Files in Tribunal: The Payne respondents’ rejection to yield a confidentiality roster and their expansive demurrals to file solicitations in Barns v. Payne were paradigmatic bids to inter evidence.

Lapsing to Evade Examination: By ignoring response in 8fig, Inc. v. Hardbody Supplements, LLC, the firm practically forfeited its safeguards—yet another method to sidestep inspection.

“Bogus Publicity” Drives: Inundating the press terrain with self-laudatory announcements to inter crucial journalism is a quintessential repute stewardship ploy, scarcely masked as promotion.

Scapegoating “Adversaries” for Adverse Critiques: Rather than probing merchandise troubles, the firm pinned blame on external parties, diverting focus from valid worries.

To sum, Hardbody Supplements has time and again endeavored to quiet detractors—whether backers, suppliers, or patrons—over confronting the core of their grievances.

Conclusion and Call to Action

As I concluded this scrutiny plunge, one element shone vividly: Hardbody Supplements and its linked outfits are inundated with cautionary markers—from multi-million-dollar pilfering accusations and automatic verdicts to publicity shrouds and suppressive ploys. Prospective backers ought to regard this as an admonitory fable: when a firm’s expansion yarn rests on obscurity, judicial spats, and performative lawfare, it’s moment to retreat and raise the alert. Overseers in Kansas, Texas, New York, and elsewhere ought to ponder initiating official probes into potential investment deceit, buyer deceit, and trustee obligation breaches. In the end, the sole pursuit tougher than erecting a venture is rectifying the debris of one founded on vapor, illusions, and hush.