Leadership - A discussion of traits, characteristics, and current news of leaders.

First of all, I don't consider her an "industry leader". I consider her as someone who made up a diet that she couldn't even follow herself, and then used false success stories (hers, along with most of the other stories that were on her site) to sell the diet. She had no studies, no data, NOTHING except her personal claims that the diet was safe and effective. False pictures from a Russian bride site proved that she wasn't who she claimed she was, and a private investigator hired by one of the members was able to get videos of her - close videos that showed "The Kimmer appeared to be well over 300 pounds." She drew people in with false claims, and when they started to question the diet, she banned them from her site in spite of the promised "lifetime" membership. The expose on KTLA in Los Angeles provided even more images and information, and a class action suit is now in the court in Riverside County, California.

This "industry leader" is nothing more than a woman who took advantage of people who were desperate to lose weight. Search for her picture on the internet, and when you find it, ask yourself if this is the rolemodel you'd like to follow.

I think it's very important to parse Heidi Diaz' words. She didn't admit any fraud. She said she's sorry we FEEL defrauded. Fraud was never her intent? She must think we fell off the turnip truck yesterday. Of course fraud was her intent. It was her intent when she trumped up phony success stories and stole images off other sites to use for before and after pictures. It was her intent when she stole an image from a website, sent it to Woman's World Magazine and told them it was her. It was her intent when she stole the infamous "red dress" picture and put it on her website. She reveled in the compliments about how great she looked and went into detail about the photo shoot. Fraud was all she ever intended, and anyone who believes differently needs to pull their head out of the sand.

As to the refund offers, it was merely a tactic to mitigate her damages in the class action lawsuit that has been filed against her. There is not one sincere thought in Heidi Diaz' brain.

She is only sorry that she got caught by some pretty smart investigative people who questioned her (now to be known fake) photo on the Womens World magazine. When she started Kimkins, Mz Diaz knowingly accepted money for a diet that had no previous track record. She MADE UP bogus "success stories" for her home page, to lure us into Kimkins, swiping the before/after photos from a Russian mail order bride site. "You will come out of this diet healthier that you started!" At the time I joined Kimkins last year, there were NO real success stories, only those she made up in her mind and my god was she convincing. Over the course of time some people did lost alot of weight (starvation does work) but then experienced illness within months of losing the weight. There have been several news segments dealing with this. Legally she needs to be delt with. We all believed her many many fake success stories and were redirected back to those stories when we faltered with the diet. This isnt about a membership fee, this is about a con artist who made millions ALL based on a lie.

Integrity is the cornerstone of the legitimate business world. This is neither legitimate or a registered business. It is a con plain and simple.

Did she make any effort to contact the people who joined before November 2007? She has everybody's e-mail address, right?

I would first begin by saying that Heidi Diaz should not have the classification of industry leader, unless we are discussing the arena of on-line scamming and defrauding of consumers; she would then be a contender for the leader title. But not in the low carb field, because her diet should not be viewed as low carb but very low calorie. It doesn't matter what you eat at 500 calories, the first issue is the low calories or basic starvation.

Her apology was not an apology for her actions, but rather she apologizes for the fact that the members "felt" misled. It shows a true lack of acceptance of her responsibility in the damages, monetary or otherwise, that her actions have caused.

However, even if her apology was sincere and heartfelt, we have a legal system for a reason, and someone who commits fraud is violating consumer right laws. To have someone answer for a crime is not sending them to a back room for a lashing, but rather standing them up at the front of the class to set an example as to what will be tolerated. The on-line community should realize that this is also setting an example of how fraud and consumer violations are going to be handled. By seeing Ms. Diaz tried in a courtroom may be a deterrent to those who see the internet as a place where no one has to answer for their actions.

Heidi Diaz should have to address those violations in a court of law. By having a court intervene the true extent of her scam will become public record and not something she can "erase" off the Internet and pick-up where she left off with a new domain.

A court trial will also be the only way we are likely to even get close to the truth when dealing with a person who has such disregard for the welfare of others and has allegedly been involved in fraud before her kimkins.com scam.
My expectations are simply- She should return the membership fees to the members and she should be forced to close her website at the very least.

Oh, and if Heidi Diaz is reading this then let me apologize if she "feels" that my words were harsh or unfair "that was not my intent".

I think she needs more lashings! :D

Kimkins is a scam and Heidi Diaz is not an industry leader. She collected disability benefits while collecting over $2 million on her dangerous diet. She needs more lashings, less sugar cookies and a long stint in jail to teach her a lesson about right and wrong.

She is not an industry leader. She's a scam artist and a fraud. Her millions in income was made based on a lie. She never lost the weight she said she'd lost, and you can see current photos of her at 300+ lbs. She bilked thousands of people to join her web site, drawn in by all the phony success stories and phony pictures which she copied from Russian bride sites. She should be put in jail and the web site should be shut down for good. She is being sued in a class action law suit and she will finally be brought to justice.

A good leader leads by example. The only actions of Heidi Diaz' that I can model are illegal, or at the very best, mean. She serves as an example of "What Not To Do" for anyone wanting to grow an ethical business, online or otherwise.

Oh yeah, Heidi - you can't take it back. Life has no "reset button". And if people "feel defrauded", it's because they have been defrauded. If it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck.....