Pierre Dukan, Inventor Of Controversial Dukan Diet, Sued For Fraud
The embattled originator of the Dukan diet, Pierre Dukan, is being sued in New York for fraudulent dealings with his financiers, according to court filings.
The civil grievance, made by a European private equity fund, alleges that the retired French physician and nutritionist fraudulently procure[ ed] financing and strategic financial advisory services without any intention of fulfilling their contractual obligations to either repay or convert the loans provided.
The monies, which total in the hundreds of thousands, were sought by Dukan to market his diet in the US, the suit alleges.
The lawsuit marks the latest chapter in the autumn of Dukan, whose protein-rich diet became a popular weight-loss plan for celebrities, but was afterwards mired in allegations of ethical breaches and potential harm.
Dukan, 76, sold more than 11 million copies of his protein-rich diet scheme worldwide and counted Kate Middleton, Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz and Gisele Bundchen among his celebrity practitioners.
Dukans high-protein, low-fat, low-carbohydrate was similar to the Atkins diet, which peaked during the early 2000 s.
In November of 2011, the British Dietetic Association named the Dukan diet as one of the worst celebrity diets of the year.
At the same time, a survey of 5, 000 people in France who had followed the diet detected 35% regained the weight they lost within a year, and 80% regained it more than four years later.
In 2014, the French national medical committee revoked Dukans medical license, arguing that he promoted his slimming diet commercially. Frances Order of Doctors regulations avoid medical practice from being a commercial venture.
He also censured in 2013 for misprescribing the amphetamine-derivative diet medication Mediator to a patient who wanted to lose weight. The medication is now believed to have killed hundreds of users. More than 100 practitioners in France faced similar admonition, and the drug is no longer available.
Remora Capital, the plaintiff under the current occurrence, has already won judgments in Luxembourg and France over similar loans made to the Dukan entities there.
The latest suit also names Dukans wife and children as defendants in the case, and argues they were direct and indirect beneficiaries of the stolen funds.
A request for commentary by Dukan or his representatives was not immediately returned.
Read more: www.theguardian.com
Pierre Dukan, Inventor Of Controversial Dukan Diet, Sued For Fraud
Pierre Dukan, Inventor Of Controversial Dukan Diet, Sued For Fraud
Pierre Dukan, Inventor Of Controversial Dukan Diet, Sued For Fraud
Pierre Dukan, Inventor Of Controversial Dukan Diet, Sued For Fraud
Pierre Dukan, Inventor Of Controversial Dukan Diet, Sued For Fraud