Kirstie Alley‘s business might want to trim the fat, but a new lawsuit against the company wants to help it lose a lot more.
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The actress’s diet company Organic Liaison has been hit with some serious fraud charges, accusing the company of a not-too-subtle Ponzi scheme that left investors out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Radar Online reports prominent Scientologist Michelle Seward is accused of spearheading the scheme by Jeffrey and Marguerite Stabile, who loaned her about $500,000 dollars of their life savings. And the court documents allege that Alley “either actually knew, constructively knew, or should have known that the investment of $1 million and the transfer of $400,000 into her trust… was illegal, fraudulent and otherwise improper, and at the expense of persons such as the plaintiffs and those similarly situated.”
After Seward obtained the money from one of her companies, Windsor Pictures LLC, she allegedly transferred it to the Kirstie Alley Family Trust and the plaintiffs claim that “the funds the trust received are related to a premium financed life insurance transaction organized by the defendant and collateralized by $1,000,000 of investor funds.”
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That’s fancy legal speak meaning that Seward was using the money for purposes other than the intended.
Seward borrowed the plaintiff’s life insurance funds by promising principal and a 15 percent annual interest for five years.
But the loan is now in default and no accounting has been provided of the funds to the Stabiles since Steward apparently “lost control of the funds,” which sounds ridiculously phrased when you consider losing control of $500,000 dollars of someone else’s money.
All in all, it just sounds like some seriously dirty business, which isn’t doing the Church of Scientology any favors since Alley and Seward are both tied to the religion.
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Alley’s weight loss product is said to “escort you into the world of organic weight loss,” and was developed with a team of scientists. But critics believe the plan is actually based on a Scientology program called the purification rundown, a controversial method that uses detoxification, dietary supplements and sauna to rid the body of poisonous toxins.
Alley has yet to comment on the lawsuit.
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