Mercola CEO's background as lawyer questioned amid exodus of top staff

The new CEO of Mercola, named to the post after founder Joseph Mercola consulted with a man claiming to channel a “high-vibration entity,” has a history that includes Maryland authorities suspending her law license following allegations that she "intentionally failed to timely pay federal and/or D.C. income tax for tax years 2000-2011" in an amount owed for each year between roughly $4,000 to more than $37,000.

The new CEO, Laura Berry, also failed to represent a decedent's beneficiary and an estate with “competence and diligence,” including "failing to take all reasonable steps to timely reimburse the estate for the unauthorized withdrawal of $27,510.92,” according to a 2013 complaint filed by the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland.

She also left her job at a Virginia sheriff’s office without promptly returning multiple firearms, her uniform and other equipment. A statement from a Mercola spokesperson denied wrongdoing by Berry regarding the guns and claimed the misappropriation was a bank error.  

Berry, who practiced law as Laura E. Jordan in Washington and Maryland, took the reins at Mercola in early February, immediately firing then-CEO Steve Rye; Chief Business Officer Ryan Boland; and Chief Editor Janet Selvig, Mercola’s sister. SupplySide Supplement Journal (formerly known as Natural Products Insider) exclusively reported on the firings and later developments.

Related:Dr. Mercola consulted with psychic before axing top executives

The actions came after Mercola began consulting with a psychic calling himself Kai Clay and claiming to channel an “ancient and wise high-vibration entity from the causal plane.”

Since then, a number of additional executive departures have raised concerns among the remaining employees about the future of the company. In addition to the CEO, the CBO and the brand’s chief content editor (Dr. Mercola’s sister Janet Selvig) who were fired when Berry took control, other key personnel who have left include the CFO, the CIO, the human resources director, the director of marketing, the product launch manager, the product development manager for Mercola’s Solspring line, the inventory manager and the contractor in charge of securing Mercola’s servers. The CIO, CFO and the contractor all left in the same week in early July.

In videos and transcripts of Dr. Mercola speaking to Clay as the entity “Bahlon,” the doctor expressed limited familiarity with Berry’s background days before she was named CEO, at one point asking whether she worked in a firm or practiced on her own. In several of the videos, Dr. Mercola listened to Clay’s account of her qualifications and Clay’s explanations of how Berry would be able to create new business structures for the doctor.

Related:Cult or con? Experts say upheaval at Mercola brand resembles both

The company did not release any information on Berry to SupplySide Supplement Journal until March 24, nearly seven weeks after the executives were fired. In response to additional inquiries, the company released a quote from Dr. Mercola on March 27 that said in part, "Laura went through a thorough interview process prior to me offering her the CEO position.”

SupplySide Supplement Journal has not been able to determine whether or how Clay and Berry were connected before she started working with Dr. Mercola in late 2023. According to videos and transcripts made from his consultations with Clay, Berry was helping the doctor on a planned book he believed would bring “joy” to “billions,” and her editing role eventually evolved into the CEO offer.

A company spokesperson refused to answer repeated questions about the relationship between Clay and Berry, including whether they knew each other prior to their contact with Dr. Mercola. In a transcript of a late January session, “Bahlon” told the doctor, “The Lara (sic) has had more contact with us on a regular basis than almost any other energy,” and added, “The Laura has run weekly groups for quite some time with us.” A source with knowledge of the conversations confirms that “Laura” in the transcripts is Laura Berry.

A source still working at Mercola said that new hires made since Berry was named CEO include people who appear to be associated with Clay. One woman who was hired shortly after the executive shakeup has a documented history with Clay as “Bahlon.” Mimi Betancourt, named “vice president of brand experience” in February, gushes about Clay’s guidance in a YouTube testimonial about Bahlon’s readings that was posted July 4, 2023. In the video, Betancourt said, “I was just about to hit my 50th and I was feeling lost and confused and uncertain about the choices I was making.” That’s when she consulted with Clay.

“I think by talking with Kai, it just gives you some clarity, gives you peace,” she added later.

Betancourt’s name does not appear in the testimonial but a source still employed at Mercola confirmed it is her and her LinkedIn profile photo matches the video. Betancourt’s LinkedIn page lists her most recent prior experience as sales executive for The Rug Company and general manager for catering at a New Jersey tennis club. There is no mention of experience with supplements or consumer packaged goods.

The company hired an outside PR firm, but no substantial answers were provided to a series of questions about Berry’s past. Several people still employed at Mercola’s Florida headquarters said they were told nothing of Berry’s background when she was hired or since she began working in the company headquarters in February. A video of Dr. Mercola introducing Berry a week after her appointment that was provided to SupplySide Supplement Journal does not mention her background.

The March 24 statement reads, “Natural Health Product (NHP) is pleased to announce the appointment of Laura Berry as Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, Berry will lead the full range of the Mercola brands, including Dr. Mercola, solspring, bark&whiskers, Ola and others. Before joining NHP, Berry was a practicing attorney for two-plus decades. She is an innovator in the socially responsible business sector, creating the first benefit corporation in 2010, and speaking nationally and internationally on this powerful movement.”

The statement also included quotes from both Joseph Mercola and Berry, but neither provided details about her background. Berry’s LinkedIn page disappeared after SupplySide Supplement Journal reported on the Mercola firings Feb. 13. LauraBerryLaw.com contains no content. On a website for a planned book, Reboot Capitalism, Laura Berry is described as “an internationally-recognized expert in benefit corporations.” The site links to a Washington Post story that described Laura Jordan (aka Berry) as “the region’s go-to lawyer when it comes to benefit corporations.” According to the article, Jordan incorporated the first benefit corporation in the U.S. after Maryland in 2010 became the first state to pass benefit corporation legislation.

Law license suspended

Records show that Laura E. Jordan’s bar license was suspended in 2014 after action from the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland, with the right to reapply in 18 months. That suspension was reciprocated in the District of Columbia and Virginia, according to information on lawyer directory Avvo.com.

Maryland courts list Laura Elizabeth Berry as an attorney on active status who was admitted in July 1998. According to the 2013 complaint filed against her by the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland, Berry (then known as Jordan) was a solo practitioner at the time in Washington, D.C., and she had been admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia in December 1988, the bar of the state of Virginia in October 1994 and to the bar of the state of Maryland in June 1998.

The petition for disciplinary or remedial action against her alleged she violated state attorney rules of professional conduct.

In an answer to the petition filed in 2014, Jordan’s counsel denied many of the allegations including that she “failed to represent the estate with competence and diligence.” The answer also raised several affirmative defenses. Her counsel asserted, for instance, that she “never engaged in an intentional or dishonest act.”

“Respondent has practiced law successfully and ethically uneventful history as an attorney for twenty-five years,” the answer declared, noting Jordan’s role in the creation of the landmark benefit corporation legislation in Maryland.

After the case was transferred to the Montgomery County Circuit Court for a one-day trial related to the alleged misconduct, Judge Steven G. Salant in June 2014 issued a 28-page findings of fact and conclusions of law.

The judge determined Jordan had violated Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1 (competence), 1.3 (diligence), 1.4 (communication), 1.15(a) (safekeeping property), 8.4(a)-(d) (misconduct) and 16.606.1 (attorney trust account record-keeping).

The attorney failed to timely file her federal income tax returns and timely pay federal income taxes, the judge noted. He also said she failed to timely file her District of Columbia income tax returns for several years and timely pay District of Columbia income taxes.

Among the court’s other findings, Jordan failed to represent an estate “with reasonable diligence and promptness.”

“The respondent did not take reasonable steps to resolve … IRS issues and close the estate between September 2006 and May 2013,” Salant wrote. “Respondent made multiple frivolous requests for extensions of time to file administrative accounts and, on eleven (11) occasions failed to file timely administrative accounts resulting in the issuance of eleven (11) show cause orders directed at” the attorney’s client.

What’s more, the judge stated it was “undisputed that on June 20, 2011, respondent negligently misappropriated $27,510.92 from the Dudley Estate, did not discover said misappropriation for eleven (11) months, and did not review the associated bank statements from June 2011 to May 2012.”

A spokesperson for Mercola described the matter as inadvertent and attributed it to a bank error. According to the judge’s ruling, after discovering the misappropriation, Jordan informed her client, reported the withdrawal to the court and bar counsel, and “made the Dudley estate whole as soon as she was able.”

Jordan also was admonished by bar counsel in 2008 in a different matter, following an ethical complaint filed by a former client against her. According to a letter of “informal admonition,” she failed to file a complaint before expiration of the statutory period, breaching ethical obligations including a rule that requires an attorney “act with reasonable promptness in representing a client.”

Law practice to law enforcement

According to Culpeper County Virginia records, Laura Jordan (now Berry) joined the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office in 2015.

A senior law enforcement official in the sheriff’s office, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, told SupplySide Supplement Journal that Jordan was brought in by then-Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who is now facing federal charges for allegedly accepting cash bribes and bribes in the form of campaign contributions totaling over $72,000. In return for the bribes, Jenkins “appointed each of the bribe payors as auxiliary deputy sheriffs, a sworn law-enforcement position, and issued them Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office badges and identification cards,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The law enforcement official within the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office said employees were given little information about Jordan when she was hired, and she was elevated to lieutenant after attending basic training at a law enforcement academy. The source claimed co-workers were not aware of her actual title or job description and were troubled by her ascension.

“They never saw her do anything,” the law enforcement official said. The company spokesman said Berry’s duties include fighting opioid abuse, youth internet safety programs and disaster preparedness.

She was with the Sheriff’s Office while Jenkins was being investigated by the FBI for trading badges to campaign donors. Jenkins allegedly told, or caused others to tell, the bribe payors that the badges and ID cards that he issued to them authorized them to carry concealed weapons in all 50 states without a permit.

Berry left the sheriff’s office in 2022, before Jenkins was indicted in 2023 on one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest-services mail and wire fraud, and eight counts of federal programs bribery. Jenkins, who recently pleaded not guilty in response to a superseding indictment, lost a reelection bid in November 2023.

Arsenal at large

Typically, within the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy is issued a handgun and a rifle, the senior law enforcement official said. Berry was in possession of five weapons when she left the office. She held onto the guns, four semiautomatic handguns and an AR 15 assault rifle, for 15 months after her departure. The company spokesperson said Berry made multiple attempts to return the weapons to the sheriff’s office before taking them to a gun dealer located 66 miles away.

In response to questions from SupplySide Supplement Journal, a spokesperson speaking for the Mercola company produced a receipt dated Oct. 4, 2023, a month before the indicted Jenkins lost his reelection bid. The receipt reads, “The agency receiving the firearms from the Silver Eagle Group Northern Virginia LLC will be the Culpeper Sheriff’s Office." The Sheriff's Office, however, was not notified that the Silver Eagle Group had the guns until 2024.

Berry assumed the Mercola CEO position in early February 2024. The company spokesperson said that while moving in March 2024, Berry came across a sheriff’s deputy uniform and other equipment she had kept. The law enforcement officer said these items were mailed back to the sheriff’s office that month. Berry has not been charged and is not currently being investigated, the law enforcement official reaffirmed at press time.

Berry denied any wrongdoing through a statement provided by a Mercola spokesperson.

“After Ms. Berry left the office, she securely and compliantly returned all equipment — including firearms — that had been issued to her. Any suggestion or accusation that she attempted to sell or otherwise improperly dispose of any equipment, including any firearms, is unequivocally and categorically untrue and will be met with legal action.”

Financial woes

Berry was working at the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office when she sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 in Virginia. A voluntary petition for bankruptcy filed by “Laura Elizabeth Berry” also lists her as previously known as Laura Elizabeth Jordan.

Her debts — including taxes, attorney’s fees and unpaid student loans — added up to nearly $500,000, a substantial share of that detailed as unpaid taxes. Her monthly salary at the time was reported in the filing at $5,557 per month.  

Berry’s current salary has not been reported, but she is now running a company with annual revenues of $150 million, according to a source within Mercola. The company declined to comment on its sales.