Motion for Class Certification

The motion for Class Certification for the Lawsuit against Kimkins.con was filed last week. It is an impressive document that details many of the lies told by Heidi Diaz in her efforts to attract customers to her website.

The motion has an excellent summary of why a Class Action Lawsuit is justified. The entire document can be read on the Riverside Court website (look up RIC483005 or search on Diaz, Heidi).

An excerpt from the motion (edited to shorten):

The Unraveling of America's Worst Internet Diet Scam.
Almost all of the material representations of the Kimkins.con website and advertisements were in fact false. The success stories were pure fiction and photographs were stolen from other Internet sites. The Kimkins diet was not ever proven safe or effective.

"Kimmer", aka Heidi Diaz, never lost 198 pounds in 11 months. "Kimmer" was purely a fictional character created to defraud the public. The perpetrator of this scam is Heidi Diaz, who habitually lied about the Kimkins diet and her alleged weight loss on the Internet for years from her home in Corona, California. She regularly used false names on the Internet, lied about her weight loss, created countless false success stories, falsely claimed celebrities such as Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan used her diet, lied about the safety and efficacy of the Kimkins diet, falsely impersonated consumers in order to induce sales, used unlawful labels and Metatags to misdirect Internet traffic and fraudulently tried to conceal her assets to avoid repaying customers. Heidi Diaz was caught red-handed but still continues to engage in false and misleading advertising on the Internet while making a substantial profit.

1. Kimmer is not Kim Drake, the thin diet expert: Kimmer is Heidi Diaz, a morbidlv obese Internet swindler from Corona, California.
The beautiful woman in the red dress featured on the Kimkins Internet site named Kim Drake aka "Kimmer," does not exist! Ms. Diaz also admitted that she had posed as Kimmer in a "public apology" that was posted on Kimkins.con after she was successfully exposed by an investigative report on the KTLA news. The Kimkins "poster girl" is actually a model named Lesya whose image was lifted by Heidi Diaz from a Russian bride Internet site. Heidi Diaz used her own picture to depict the "before Kimkins diet" image of Kimmer, and unlawfully misappropriated the photograph of Lesya as the "after Kimkins diet" image of Kimmer. Heidi Diaz has been and remains a morbidly obese woman.

Heidi Diaz created false identities to sell or promote the Kimkins Diet. She admitted under oath that she had used such names as Kimmer, Jennifer Danser, Brad Curtis, Kimberly Stewart, Kimberly Drake, Vanessa Sharp, Dennis Sharp and numerous other monikers.

2. Use of False Pictures of Kimmer.
Under oath and by way of public apology, Heidi Diaz has established that she has used false pictures to depict the weight loss success story of Kimmer. Under oath she stated that the picture of the Kimmer was not her and was actually "a model."'M s. Diaz' decision to use a false picture to advertise Klmkins was even questioned by her technical support staff. Her technical consultant, Aliyar Firat, wanted to use a real picture of Heidi Diaz but Ms. Diaz refused and insisted on using the picture of the model for Kimmer's after diet photographs.

3. Heidi Diaz Lied About Her Alleged Weight Loss.
Under oath, and by way of public apology, Heidi Diaz admitted that she lied about the alleged weight loss success of Kimmer on Internet and print advertisements. She admitted that her statement that Kimmer lost an amazing 198 pounds in 11 months was in fact a statement that she prepared but was false. Ms. Diaz also admitted that the woman identified as Vanessa does not actually exist and her story was a fictional creation by Ms. Diaz.

With respect to Kimkins' homepage, Ms. Diaz admits that her testimony on said homepage was derived from the interview wherein she claims to have lost a purported 198 pounds in 11 months was false. Variations of the homepage of Kimkins.con were accessible to the public throughout the class period.

To promote Kimkins, Heidi Diaz made phenomenal misrepresentations on the Internet program known as the "Livin La Vida Low Carb" show hosted by Jimmy Moore on July 19, 2007. Heidi Diaz also stated in the interview that she had kept the weight off for a total of 5 to 5 1/2 years. At the time of the interview, Heidi Diaz weighed over 300 pounds. She was photographed several times shortly after the interview.

4. Material Misrepresentations Contained in the Woman's World
Magazine Article "Make Heidi Diaz a Millionaire."
In June of 2007, the story of Kimmer and the Kimkins diet reached millions of Americans. Heidi Diaz admitted that she supplied her own "before diet" photograph for the article but used a photograph of another model for her "after diet" photograph. When asked where she obtained the picture of the model, she stated: "from the Intemet. I don't remember the site. Just again, I wanted to be anonymous." Ms. Diaz does not dispute the fact that she also used the false name "Kim Drake" and another false picture in the article.

Her statements in the article were a phenomenal act of fraud by Heidi Diaz. In the article she falsely stated she had lost 200 pounds in 11 months. She also falsely represented that she soared up to 318 pounds after a serious injury. She falsely claimed she went from a dress size 26 to a size 6. As a result of such blatant false advertising, sales shot up immediately. In June of 2007, there were 15,330 paid memberships.

5. The Use of Fortv-One (41) False Success Stories with Misapproprated Photographs.
Numerous Kimkins' success stories used on the websites and on advertisements were FALSE. The photographs featured in each of the success stories were lifted from Russian Bride websites. Ms. Diaz admitted that each and every person featured did not use the Kimkins diet and did not lose the weight as advertised.

She admitted to fabricating success stories and using false photographs in connection with the advertisements. She also created fraudulent success stories on the Kimkins Newsletter which was accessible to the general public and designed to promote Kimkins.con subscriptions.


6. False Celebrity Endorsements.
Heidi Diaz admitted that she had represented to the public that celebrity Jessica Alba, a famous actress, used the Kimkins diet. She testified that she did not know if Jessica Alba used the diet but repeated the "rumor" on the internet. She admitted in retrospect, she thought it was deceptive to repeat the rumor that Jessica Alba used the Kimkins diet.

Heidi Diaz also falsely claimed and advertised that Lindsay Lohan was a user of the Kimkins diet. In fact, she misappropriated a picture of Lindsay Lohan wearing a T-shirt. The Kimkins logo is superimposed on Ms. Lohan's t-shirt. Ms. Diaz admitted that she has never had any contact with Lindsay Lohan. She also testified that she never believed the photograph of Lindsay Lohan with the doctored image displaying Kimkins across Ms. Lohan's chest was real.

7. Unlawful Use of Labels and Metatam to Misdirect Internet Traffic.
Many of the Kimkins.com advertisements have labels or tags that are used as a basis to direct traffic to the Kimkins.com site. Heidi Diaz was an expert on how to misdirect traffic on the Internet. For example, Heidi Diaz took a popular Internet topic such as the "Geico Caveman" which generated a lot of Internet activity at the time. Heidi Diaz placed the labels: "Caveman, Geico, Kimkins" together so that when "Geico" and "Caveman" would be searched, the Kimkins advertisement would appear. Heidi Diaz admitted that she prepared the graphic and text without the permission of the Geico Insurance Company. Heidi Diaz admitted that labels were also used as tags and that if a search were conducted with respect to the terms "Geico" or "Caveman," the subject advertisement would show up in a ranking!'
Another example of label/tag misdirection occurred on the Kimkins Blog. Ms. Diaz used the following labels: "Celebrity Diet Secrets, Christie Brinkley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kimkins, and low carb."

8. No Lifetime membership as Promised by Heidi Diaz.
Members of Kimkims.con were promised a one-time payment for a lifetime membership. However, if anyone complained of becoming ill on the diet, which was a common occurrence, said member would be immediately terminated. In fact, if Heidi Diaz or any of her minions decided they did not like you, you would also be terminated. Heidi Diaz testified that troublemakers would be blocked from full access to the website. She claimed to have no criteria for terminations. She stated that the term "troublemaker" would be defined by each administrator!

9. Advertised Lies and Misrepresentations.
Although Heidi Diaz is the sole owner of Kimkins and responsible for all of the content on its website, she has made the miraculous claim that certain representations appeared on her website without her knowledge.

Another classic misrepresentation repeated throughout the Kimkins advertisements was that the Kimkins diet was a "fast and permanent" way to lose weight.

Heidi Diaz admits that no medical doctor has ever approved the safety or efficacy of the Kimkins diet."

Another amazing misrepresentation repeatedly stated that the Kimkins diet was thermogenic and that no exercise was needed to lose weight. Many other irresponsible statements were made by Heidi Diaz and it is anticipated that she may even try to claim that she was not responsible for everything stated on her own website. However, she did admit undeer oath that no one had access to her website other than her technical company, Clexus New Media. Ms. Diaz admitted under oath that in her best estimate, she only visited her homepage two times in the year 2007, despite being the sole owner of the website.

The Court already has on file numerous declarations and affidavits signed by purchasers of Kimkins.con memberships, who stated under oath that they relied on the representations of Defendant's weight loss claims when they decided to subscribe to Kimkins.con. The subject declarations and affidavits illustrate the consumers' reliance on the fraudulent representations of Heidi Diaz. Heidi Diaz admits she lied and the sheer volume of lies proves her intent to deceive her customers.

Kimmer Ignoring Members

A while back, Kimmer asked for her members input to come up with a Kimkins maintenance plan. She eventually came up with something she published as a "plan."

The "plan" was really obscure and really just consisted of calorie recommendations: "........ a 10-12X multiplier for women and 12-14X for men" i.e. if your weight is 125 pounds you would eat 1250 to 1500 calories per day. The "plan" didn't include any recommendations about carb limits, more than that you had to find out your own "Carb & Calorie Equilibrium" without any explanation of what this is or how to find out what it is.

On Kimkins forum, she posted a more detailed sample menu. For being a low carb plan, it included a lot of carbs in the form of fruit and grains. Still low fat, of course. Her menu had waffles for breakfast, a hoagie roll for lunch, and pasta for dinner, for example. For her 1200 calorie menu, the carb count varied between 103 and 135 grams! From where did she steal this plan? Weight Watchers?

Following the posting of this menu, some members on the maintainer board weighted in with their comments. All (3?) of them pointed out that they could not eat anywhere close to that carb amount. They also said that any grains were off limits for them.

So what did Kimmer do?

Nothing. No comment. No change of the menu. Did she even read the comments?

You would think that Kimmer would listen to her maintainers. After all, Heidi Diaz has no experience of her own for how to maintain weight loss. But then, she has never listened to anybody in the first place. She is still acting as the know-it-all diet guru that lost 200 pounds and maintained for 6 years. Not as the 300+ pound obese person she is that has failed over and over again to lose weight.

It is also baffling that the maintainers stay at Kimkins.con. Could it be because they are still doing Kimkins? Constantly trying to take off a few regained pounds? It certainly can not be to receive "advice" from Heidi Diaz.

Move On

Some people find us anti-kk bloggers "obsessed" and suggest that we "move on". The reasoning seems to be that fraud has now been admitted, the Class Action Suit is underway, and many people have left Kimkins to gather at other places. Why would we continue to pursue this one woman that started it all?

The answer is simple. Kimkins.con is still operational. Heidi Diaz is still running google ads to snatch new, unsuspecting members.

Some also think that we are doing this for attention. And, they are right. I do this for attention. Not attention for me as a person, but to spread awareness of the Kimkins fraud to prevent other people to lose their money like I did. Remember that when the Woman's World article came out in June 2007, there was no negative information to be found about Kimkins on the internet.
A Kimkins search at that time gave a lot of hits to affiliate blogs, and if ending up on Ask Kimmer on Lowcarbfriends, there was just praise for the diet there as well. Today, Kimkins Survivors often come up as the 2nd hit, directly following the Kimkins.con website. Hopefully, seeing a site dedicated to "survivors" will give pause before blindly signing up for Kimkins. Or, going down the list to read all the other anti-kk blogs.

Some also criticize the anti-kk bloggers based on that many of us (a) lost weight, (b) didn't do the diet, or (c) never were Kimkins members in the first place.

With very few exceptions, the ones that lost weight on Kimkins didn't do it without consequences. Some suffer health problems. Many discovered that they had developed an eating disorder. Most regained weight.

I am in the group that didn't do the diet, so my only loss was the money I paid for the "lifetime" membership. And the loss of trust. Knowing that people like Heidi Diaz so easily can create an online persona that has very little in common with who she really is. And me falling for it, paying her money that helped establish a website based on fraud. You could call me a "disgruntled customer" and I want to prevent others, not yet Kimkins customers, to become "disgruntled" also.

The last group that never were Kimkins members largely comprises dieters that are concerned about their fellow dieters' health. That were appalled at the diet "advice" Heidi Diaz gave out. They became aware of the fraud, and now want to stop Kimkins.con.

When it comes to "moving on", many, many have done so. The vast majority no doubt within weeks of signing up at Kimkins.con following the WW article. The anti-kk bloggers and the people working behind the scenes constitute just a small number as compared to the reportedly 40,000 that paid money to Heidi Diaz. Do not the people that walked away also deserve restitution? To get their money back when they realized that the diet was not anything they could ever do?

Some also tell the anti-kk bloggers to "get a life" as if we spend all our time obsessing about Heidi Diaz and Kimkins.con. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just check out the FWK thread to see how many other subjects that are discussed there. Or visit one of the other boards where we hang out and it will become obvious that this Kimkins thing is just occupying a small part of our lives. And it will keep on doing so until Kimkins.con is shut down. I will not "move on" just yet.

Happy Thanksgiving

Kimkins Business Ethics

Or rather lack thereof. I was banned from Kimkins more than a year ago. Not for anything I posted on Heidi Diaz' site but for something I posted on another board. But as the post referred to as a reason for my banning took place a month after I had been banned, who knows what the real reason was. I would expect that Tippy knows, but she is not telling.

Anyway, a while back I started to receive emails from Kimmer to the email address I had used on Kimkins. I tried to unsubscribe several weeks back, but apparently that is not working.

I received an email today for "Kimkins Holiday Savings!" where she suggests that I get a "buddy" to sign up for Kimkins, and providing a discount code for 15% off off the $79.95 "lifetime" membership fee. Yeah, right. As if I would recommend this program to someone else. I already lost my money. Why would I want a "buddy" to do the same.

In addition, the email had my user name and password for Kimkins:

HERE'S YOUR KIMKINS USER NAME & PASSWORD:
user: sward001
pass: T58ZSOFV

Apart from it not being secure to send this type of information in a standard email, I can't figure out why Heidi did it in the first place. I am banned. Try it for yourself. You will just get this:


And, no. Waiting 1-2 hours will not change anything. I am permanently banned.

If this was an attempt by Heidi to collect my IP address, she will be disappointed. The constantly changing IP my broadband connection provides is not going to give out any information of use to her.

Kimkins Still Banning Members

Kimkins is subject to a Class Action Lawsuit for banning members without cause and without giving them a refund. While there are many other complaints about the Kimkins Diet, they are not as easily proven as the simple fact that you paid for a lifetime membership and did not receive what you paid for.

The latest banned member was asked to provide "before" and "after" photos for herself to be used in a Kimkins success story. Timing was imperative as Kimmer is gearing up for the weight loss boom that always take place after the holidays. The member did not promptly respond and found herself banned.

It is clear that Kimmer has no concern about banning lifetime members without cause. After all, they are of no use to her as the one time fee has been paid and they don't bring in new revenue for Heidi Diaz. That the member has formed friendships inside the Kimpound and is following the restrictive posting rules there is of no importance to her.

Only new members bring in money.

It's ironical that one of the selling points Heidi is using in her google ads and newsletters is the lifetime membership. "$79. Not another penny ever." It seems that her definition of "lifetime" is something else than for the rest of us. I think an honest ad should say "$79 to get access to a poorly defined diet plan. Receive advice from the diet's creator that never lost weight on it herself and that is not able to stick to her own diet. Join a dying community on a board where you have to watch what you say. Do not venture out on other, public, boards. Be prepared to lose access when the founder decides you are no longer of use to her, or if you annoy her. Being electronic media, the membership fee is non-refundable".

I doubt she would get any new members with such an ad. Hopefully she is not getting new members anyway. I hope they have the knowledge to google Kimkins before they shell out the money. The second google hit "Kimkins Survivors" should tell them something.

Anoretix

Anoretix is a weight loss pill. Who on earth came up with this name? Yes, I know that "anorexic" literally means "loss of appetite" but don't most of us associate it with anorexia nervosa?

Anorexia nervosa is a serious, often deadly, eating disorder. Medusa has written extensively about it. Eating disorder victims should not have any further encouragement to starve themselves.

I wonder if there was some marketing team behind this name. Or just an ignorant internet marketer. Very ignorant.

The Anoretix web site is a typical weight loss product sales page. The head line announces "I lost 12 pounds in 72 hours" next to a stock photo of a slim woman with tape measure. Some testimonials. Promise of a lifetime money back guarantee. Whose lifetime?

By the way; these testimonials? How many of you go back to a web site where you made a purchase just to submit a testimonial? And post progress updates? I have never done it. I don't even give feedback reviews on Amazon for a product I like.

Not that I believe for a minute that this product is any more helpful for weight loss than any other pill. Actually, it is a combination of some 9 other weight loss products that all are supported by some undisclosed studies and research. Just the usual "clinically proven" nonsense. And the "patented" or "patent pending" statement. As if a product needs to be proven effective to get a patent.

Many affiliates have jumped on the Anoretix train and it seems that very few of them have any knowledge about weight loss. A google search returns 40,000 hits. Blogs, ads, web sites. Hoping to cash in from desperate dieters. I hope they all fail.

One of the sites I looked up actually provided some interesting info; inadvertently, I'm sure. They said: "Most diet pills have about a 1,000% markup meaning that if it costs $3 to manufacture — companies sell it for $30. Which means we consumers are getting ripped off."

You can say that again. We consumers get ripped off!