Kimkins Diet Scam Unraveling Fast, Journalism Student Writing Paper On Controversy

Filed under: In The News — @ December 3, 2007

Meet Heidi Diaz, aka Kimmer, at her deposition last month

So much is happening behind-the-scenes regarding the Kimkins diet scam that it’s a little hard to keep up with it all. Here’s a recap of some of the most recent happenings:

SEPTEMBER 2007:
- Private investigator releases photos of Kimkins creator Kimmer as a morbidly obese woman
- Three prominent admins at Kimkins–Christin, Deni, and Becky–pull their support for the program because of evasive answers by the founder of the diet
- Former Woman’s World magazine cover girl Christin Sherburne admits having health problems from being on the Kimkins diet

OCTOBER 2007:
- KTLA-TV in Los Angeles airs first television examination of the Kimkins controversy
- The Better Business Bureau lowered their rating of Kimkins to an “F”
- A recap of the most revealing parts of my podcast interview with Kimmer aired

NOVEMBER 2007:
- Kimmer (Heidi Diaz) appears in a courtroom answering questions about her diet scam
- Kimkins fraud achieves first national television exposure on FOX-TV’s “The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet”
- Kimmer admits she is Heidi Diaz and “comes clean” on her weight loss diet lie
- Heidi Diaz and her attorney offer a desperate plea to refund the money of disgruntled ex-Kimkins members
- KTLA-TV does their third story on the Kimkins scam, exposing the mail-order Russian bride fraud as well as sharing details about the class action lawsuit
- Prior to her assets being frozen during the pending lawsuit, Heidi Diaz purchases for herself a $400,000 house and brand new cars with cash

DECEMBER 2007
- The search for who that woman in the lawn chair is on

For an amazing recap of the Kimkins saga, visit this timeline from Laura Dolson’s About.com Low-Carb Diet web site.

In the meantime, a journalism student from the University of Southern California has been so intrigued by the Kimkins controversy story that she has decided to do her final project of the Fall semester on it and she needs your help.

Click here if you are a former or current Kimkins member to learn more about how you can be interviewed about your experience for this project. The deadline is looming this week, so don’t delay!