Kevin Trudeau

[AndyK]

This just in courtesy of Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal judge has found author and infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau in contempt of court for failing to pay a more than $37 million fine imposed over misleading ads for one of his wildly popular weight-loss books.

Friday's ruling was the latest round in more than a decade of legal battles that began with a suit filed by the Federal Trade Commission. The regulatory agency alleged some of Trudeau's informercials included false and misleading statements about his books.

A federal judge in Chicago agreed and ordered him to stop. Then in 2007, Judge Robert Gettleman fined Trudeau $37.6 million for violating the order.

On Friday, Gettleman said Trudeau failed to pay and ordered him to transfer ownership of companies and financial accounts to a court-appointed receiver. Gettleman found him in contempt, opting not to give him jail time out of concern that those hurt by his actions would never get compensated.

He likened Trudeau to a puppet master in control of a vast network being used to keep his assets hidden and suggested that without his cooperation there would be no way to get at that money.

"Mr. Trudeau is a puppet master who has a lot of strings out there and I'm not sure he can pull those strings from jail," Gettleman said, according to WMAQ-TV.

Despite no formal medical training and several criminal convictions, Trudeau has sold millions of books offering cures for dozens of ailments, from faltering memory to hair loss. They have titles such as "The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About," the book at the center of his latest legal trouble.

The FTC first sued Trudeau in 1998, charging that he made false and unsubstantiated claims in infomercials for hair growth, memory and weight-loss products. In 2003, the agency sued Trudeau for deceptively marketing a calcium product as a cancer cure and a product called Biotape as a pain reliever.

Trudeau paid $2 million in 2004 to settle the FTC's charges and agreed to comply with a court order banning him from infomercials except those that accurately promote books.

Three years later, the judge held Trudeau in civil contempt for misrepresenting some of the facts in an ad for his best-selling weight-loss book, namely that the diet plan was easy and allowed adherents to eat anything they wanted.

After purchasing the book, however, the FTC alleged that consumers discover it "requires severe dieting," daily injections of a prescription drug not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for weight loss and "lifelong dietary restrictions."

Trudeau's attorney, Kimball Anderson, said Friday his client wants to cooperate but does not own the companies and does not have the money.

It is not the first time Gettleman has declared Trudeau in contempt.

The judge in 2010 sentenced Trudeau to 30 days in jail and fined him $5,000 for criminal contempt after the pitchman urged his supporters to contact the judge and vouch for the benefits of his books.

Gettleman was teaching a course at Northwestern University law school in February 2010 when his BlackBerry suddenly started buzzing furiously with one e-mail after another.

His court e-mail locked up, requiring a technician to fix the problem, and the U.S. Marshal's Service had to produce a threat assessment because a few e-mails sounded threatening.

Trudeau appealed that sentence to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

[Number Six]

This is way overdue, what has taken so long? He has been spamming all over the place with his "infomercials" and other sales promotions. They have nailed numerous others who ripped off individuals and the government through the "grant" schemes that make many tax protester promoters look like pikers in comparison.

He's a slick one, flanked by models and Playboy bunnies in his promotions as if they lend credibility to his schtick.

[notorial dissent]

I have to admit that I agree that this has been a far too long time in coming. I think that part of what makes it so egregious is that not only he a out an out conman, but so much of his stuff is real and for true highly dangerous snake oil in the truest sense of the word. His diet books from what I have read are out and out health threats to anyone who uses them, and his economic writings are if anything even more toxic.

His latest effort is an infomercial purporting to be a news report, that still ends up as a shill for his books.

At this point, my question would be when do the lawyers involved in this cease being advocates and become complicit in the ongoing fraud. He hasn't continued doing this and staying out of jail on his own smarts?

[JamesVincent]

Just a question, how many threads do we have on Trudeau now?

[Number Six]

The search function is quite effective on this site. I don't remember Trudeau getting less law enforcement attention than he deserves based on the numbers of suckers affected by his long run, the millions he has amassed by trading on duplicitous information, as well as the government resources that have been spent apparently in vain trying to bring him to justice.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Here we go again:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 2440.story

"Incarceration is necessary to coerce defendant to provide complete and accurate information regarding the assets he possesses or controls,"

[notorial dissent]

Quelle surprise, Trudeau, lied/wasn't honest/wasn't forthcoming/stretched the truth just a bit. The next thing he'll be claiming is that his magic books are real, oh wait, he's already done that, that's why we're back to this point.

I think it is going to take more than a day in jail to get his attention if past behavior is any indication. I think maybe it is gonna take a whole lotta days, and maybe some of his legal team should be joining him, as someone had to have helped him work this all out.

[notorial dissent]

Any ideas on how long he will be in custody over this?

What I don't understand, is that he claims he has nothing, yet the scams continue, with him fronting for them, so the money has to be going somewhere, and they have to be still raking in a fair amount of it or they couldn't afford the air time they are buying.

So who's lying more, Trudeau or his lawyers?

[Jeffrey]

Any ideas on how long he will be in custody over this?

What I don't understand, is that he claims he has nothing, yet the scams continue, with him fronting for them, so the money has to be going somewhere, and they have to be still raking in a fair amount of it or they couldn't afford the air time they are buying.

So who's lying more, Trudeau or his lawyers?

I got 3 of his books laying around gifted to me by unskeptical family members.

[notorial dissent]

I see Gettleman slapped Trudeau's wrists the other day for having stashed money secretly away in Australia as well as an offshore betting account, by cutting off his monthly stipend. I mean how harsh!!!!

I particularly liked this little bit,

To me, that just keeps adding on and adding on to the deceit. The facts suggest that Mr. Trudeau has not been truthful.

I can't decide if that is sarcasm on the part of the judge or total naïveté. Unfortunately past events would indicate the latter. I think it is going to take more than one night in a jail cell to get through to Trudeau.

[Pottapaug1938]

At least one person is happy about the shutdown of the federal government, I'll bet:

http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/tv-pi ... t-shutdown

[Judge Roy Bean]

Dear ol' Kev is headed behind bars:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... 6661.story

... The judge told Trudeau his order to have him locked up at the Metropolitan Correctional Center would stand until he complies with federal authorities and reveals offshore accounts where his money is believed to be hidden. ...

[notorial dissent]

Ahhhhh how tragic!!!!! It's only taken how many years to get to this point??? I'd say that between the lifestyle he has continued to lead, and the pack of lawyers he is still supporting, he has a whole lot of money stashed somewhere.

[Number Six]

"Trudeau, 50, was banned by the FTC in 2004 from misrepresenting the contents of his popular book, 'The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About.' Regulators said he violated the order a few years later with infomercials claiming the book was filled with "easy" techniques when it actually called for prescription hormone injections, a month of colon hydrotherapy and a 500-calorie-a-day diet."

Reminds me a bit of the Fen-Phen drug and resulting lawsuits by people with long-term damage to the organs of their bodies and other problems. Considering the level of depraved indifference to the consequences of the false promotions he has done for so long he and his conspirators should face long-tern incarceration, and hopefully they will be able to turn over enough stones to recover the loot.

[notorial dissent]

It appears that the Federal jury hearing the criminal contempt case against Kevin Trudeau returned a guilty verdict on Tuesday Nov 12. Nothing listed for sentencing or further action yet.

[JamesVincent]

Saw an article that stated sentencing is to be held Feb. 2014. Anyway to check that?

[Doc Bunkum]

Saw an article that stated sentencing is to be held Feb. 2014. Anyway to check that?

Cosmic Connie reminds us...

... currently jailed serial scammer Kevin Trudeau's criminal sentencing is due to take place this coming Monday, March 17, 2014, at 2:00 PM in Judge Ronald Guzman's court.

[rogfulton]

Ten Years!

The article at Yahoo! News

[fortinbras]

One of Trudeau's fans in the courtroom was former Congressman Ed Foreman, who kept trying to argue with the judge from the gallery and finally was carried out and fined $175.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairp ... gressm.php

[wserra]

"Deceitful to the very core." As we've said for years, that pretty much sums it up.