Kevin Trudeau is a TV pitchman who loves the spotlight. That’s because he has made millions of dollars off of gullible viewers who buy into the worthless products sold in his extensive portfolio of infomercials.
On Friday, September 4, 2013, Kevin Trudeau was set to go before a U.S. judge in Chicago because he failed to pay a previous civil judgment in the amount of $37.6 million. Fortunately for Kevin Trudeau, his court hearing was delayed due to the government shutdown because the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) attorneys were not receiving a paycheck.
What was Kevin Trudeau’s excuse for not paying his civil judgment?
Trudeau claims he is destitute. The definition of destitute is: “without the basic necessities of life.” A homeless person would be defined as destitute. Kevin Trudeau is not destitute.
The FTC attorneys were able to provide evidence that Kevin Trudeau purchased cigars for $920, $894 at an alcoholic beverage store, $1,057 for online purchases of meats, and two haircuts at Vidal Sassoon totaling $359 — proof that Kevin Trudeau is far from destitute. In fact, one might even go so far as to say that this man is opulent in his purchases. This does not include the $18,642 paid to the lawyer that worked on Kevin Trudeau’s taxes. All of these purchases led to the U.S. District Court Judge Robert Gettleman to find Kevin Trudeau guilty in contempt of court for violating a freeze on his assets.
The FTC also presented evidence to the judge that Kevin Trudeau attempted an asset-protection scheme by creating companies that were either owned or directed by his Ukrainian wife, Nataliya Baenko.
Kevin Trudeau Spends One Night in Jail for Contempt
As a result of being in contempt of court, Kevin Trudeau spent one night in federal custody on Sept. 18, 2013. This isn’t the first time that Trudeau has been found in contempt of court. Judge Robert Gettlemen told the Chicago-Sun Times in 2011: “I can count the number of people I’ve held in contempt on one hand…and three of those fingers have Kevin Trudeau’s name on them.” The third time was because Kevin Trudeau shared Judge Gettlemen’s email address on his radio show, shutting down his Blackberry with hundreds of messages pleading for Trudeau to be exonerated from all charges.
As Trudeau stood before the judge yet again in 2013, he made the following statement before the court: “I am penniless. I am homeless. I surrender. I am at your mercy…I will do anything you ask.”
After being questioned by the FTC in the visiting area of a correctional facility, Kevin Trudeau delivered vague answers to questions asked about specific events. It is hard to believe that this Trudeau has done infomercials for a product that he claims would give people a photographic memory. He has even done an infomercial for Coral Calcium Supreme — a wonder product that Trudeau claims to have the ability to “cure cancer.” That seems to be just one of his many lies on television, but the sad part is that some people actually believe the claims in his infomercials. Perhaps this is due to his fine-tuned methods as a TV pitchman.
False Claims Lead to Kevin Trudeau’s Many Legal Problems
In 2009, Judge Gettleman ruled that Kevin Trudeau had made false claims, misrepresenting the actual content in his books that were promoted in his infomercials. For example, his weight loss book described that he would share a “simple” and “easy” protocol that would allow the consumer to eat anything he or she wants after finishing his process. Judge Gettlemen ruled that these were “undeniably false” statements and the infomercials even claimed that it could be done without exercise, despite the book indicated that one must walk one hour a day outdoors.
It All Started With a Pyramid Scheme
After going to jail for credit card fraud in 1991, Kevin Trudeau banded together with a former cocaine dealer and joined a multi-level marketing company called Nutrition for Life. They operated their pyramid scheme until being found guilty by the state of Illinois and seven other states. Nutrition for Life was required to pay over $2 million to shareholders for their phony business, and Trudeau was required to pay $185,000 for being a scam artist.
After this, Kevin Trudeau found his big break. He began producing his own infomercials on late night TV as a pitchman for various products, and he was met with success. A common line that Trudeau uses in his infomercials is that his product “cures ailment XYZ, but the pharmaceutical companies and government (agencies) don’t want you to know about it.”
Kevin Trudeau Wrote Books on Secrets “They” Don’t Want You to Know About
In fact, he has been so successful with that line, he has titled his books using that secret formula.
His 2004 book, ”Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About” shares advice on natural cures and medical advice. This book shares the false claims that the AIDS virus is a hoax, the sun does not cause cancer, because it’s the sunscreen that causes the cancer.
Kevin Trudeau followed his first book with a second medical guide called ”More Natural ‘Cures’ Revealed” that shares why the food and drug companies do not want you to know about the evidence proving that their products cause disease and sickness.
In 2007, Kevin Trudeau published ”The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” This book promotes a weight loss plan that includes injections of human chorionic gonadotropin, despite no substantial scientific evidence to back up this weight loss plan.
In 2007, Trudeau published a book on ”Debt Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” His biggest secret in this book is to dispute items on your credit report as identity theft.
In 2009, Trudeau published ”The Money-Making Secrets ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” He shares how to use the Law of Attraction to target an audience of interested buyers. This law has been dubbed as a “pseudoscience” by any scientific findings.
Kevin Trudeau Is Great at What He Does
Kevin Trudeau has fooled many people with fraudulent claims to cure diseases with one goal in mind: To make money. Do not be deceived by his “snake oil” infomercials of secret cures the government doesn’t want you to know about. One thing can be known for certain. Kevin Trudeau is a great actor and knows how to sell anything as a TV pitchman. He can tell a lie with a straight face and look genuine while doing it.
Investigative Journalist Bill Weir Confronts Kevin Trudeau
At the top of this ABC News article, investigative journalist Bill Weir catches up with Kevin Trudeau in Switzerland (8:09 in the video). Kevin Trudeau appears to be slightly annoyed and calls this encounter “ambush journalism.” Bill Weir asks Trudeau about his statement to the FTC stating that he is “destitute” and without any assets. Bill Weir says on camera (at 9:00) that his diamond ring is blinding him.
At 9:32 in the ABC news video, Trudeau sits down with Bill Weir in Dallas, Texas, for a few questions. Kevin Trudeau is unwilling to talk about his wife’s involvement with his schemes and scams. Bill Weir asks Kevin Trudeau if he is using a company called G.I.N. (Global Investor Network) to pay for his lavish purchases. Kevin Trudeau says: “That’s a legitimate question. Even if I was, what’s the point? I’m screwed. I can’t own anything for the rest of my life. So…I’m not going to start a company and put it in my own name. It’d be dumb…and I can certainly go to friends, relatives, neighbors, whatever, and say, ‘You start a company and I’ll help you out.’ And there’s nothing wrong with that, there’s nothing illegal about it, and guess what? It ain’t my asset.” Bill Weir replies, “That argument may put you in jail.” Kevin Trudeau responds: “We’ll see. I have an insane, ridiculous, 37 million personal judgement against me because I wrote a book and said, ‘the diet was easy.’ Bill, I don’t have $37 million hidden someplace. If they can find $37 million, pop the champagne. Good luck.”
Kevin Trudeau is skilled at moving money around to shell corporations to avoid having personal assets. His ridiculous claims in his infomercials have gotten him in a lot of trouble, and to this day is scheming ways to elude and circumvent the FTC from confiscating his money hidden in these shell corporations owned by his wife.
Moral of this story: Don’t cheat others out of their hard earned money with scams. Otherwise, you’ll be a man on the run, like Kevin Trudeau.
Interesting Trivia Fact: Kevin Trudeau has publicly shared that he is “strongly considering” a run for Congress, but is undecided on what state he wants to represent since he travels so much.
