Christkindl LIVE Takes Legal Action in Response to Defamatory Claims by Sarah Mullins
(organizer of Quad Cities Christkindlmarkt)
Below is a link to the Cease and Desist warning sent to Mullins and related parties.
https://www.christkindl.live/sarah-mullins-cease-and-desist-warning
On Aug. 24, www.wqad.com published a story about Christkindl LIVE. In the original news story, reporter Connor Day mistakenly confused Christkindl LIVE with the local Quad Cities Christkindlmarkt. The story was then updated twice with comments from Mullins, calling Christkindl LIVE a “scam,” perpetrated by “hackers.”
Christkindl LIVE wants to be clear, that we have never intentionally misidentified ourselves as any local Christmas market. When we reached out to reporters, we clearly identified our brand as “Christkindl LIVE” and all email messages were sent from christkindl.live domain.
As of this press release, Christkindl LIVE has never received any official inquiries, either from Mullins and Quad Cities Christkindlmarkt, or www.wqad.com for comment or clarification. Mr. Day from WQAD did not reach out to us for comment or clarification, either for his original article or in response to Ms. Mullins’ accusations.
In addition, Christkindl LIVE’s website was hacked on Aug. 25, 2020. We hired a national website security company to investigate the nature of the hacking, and they found that the IP address of the illegal hacking attempt was located in Davenport, IL(Quad Cities area). We also discovered a malicious backdoor code installed on Aug. 25. The timing and proximity to the Quad Cities area is highly suspicious.
Below is a link to screenshots that show the hacking activities:
https://christkindl.live/news/sarah-mullins-falsified-defamatory-claims/
Christkindl LIVE takes online security very seriously and has implemented several security protocols to prevent illegal hacking activities. To protect our customers’ privacy and credit card information, our website does not store or keep customers’ transaction information. For payment gateway, we use Stripe (https://stripe.com/) – one of the most reputable and secure online payment gateway in the world. Stripe is used by companies such as National Geographic, Expedia, Lyft, Spotify, etc.
Christkindl LIVE has never impersonated any other local Christkindl market. As an online Christkindl marketplace, our remote live streaming will be conducted from Chicago, but our service will be available to people all across the US and Canada. To facilitate our 2-day shipping logistics, we have two warehouse hubs in the US: one in Los Angeles, and one in Chicago.
Mullin’s false assumptions and the accusations she leveled against Christkindl LIVE to WQAD have severely damaged our brand’s reputation. We will not hesitate to take additional legal action against Mullins and related parties if they continue their activities. Additionally, anyone who makes false claims without evidence will also be subject to legal action by Christkindl LIVE.
Christkindl. LIVE
Legal Department
[email protected]