Infomercial millionaire Kevin Trudeau's run of good luck and has come to a coughing, spluttering end, with the self-made weight loss guru found guilty of misrepresenting the contents of his work. Trudeau, 51, was also found guilty of violating a 2004 order that prevented him from producing and broadcasting more infomercials that falsely portrayed his book, The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About.
Though the order was handed down in no uncertain terms, Trudeau was found to have appeared in and aired the three offending infomercials - filmed in 2006 and 2007 - some 32,000 times before being apprehended for criminal contempt in November last year. Freshly sentenced to ten years in a federal prison, Trudeau was lambasted by U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman, who called the opportunistic entrepreneur an "unrepentant, untiring, and uncontrollable huckster who has defrauded the unsuspecting for 30 years."
Ostensibly selling himself as an expert on natural therapies, Trudeau was in fact peddling misinformation in his published works. The Weight Loss Cure sold approximately 850,000 copies, leading to $39 million in revenue for Trudeau. However, his defense lawyers protested that just 67 of those 850,000 buyers were defrauded, due to the number of formal complaints lodged with relevant consumer protection bodies.
Trudeau was simultaneously tried in a civil case initiated by the Federal Trade Commission, also around the contents of the book. The civil case resulted in Trudeau being fined $37 million, money he claims not to have - despite the FTC pointing to ostentation spending habits. Among other purchases, Trudeau is thought to have spent $100,000 on gold bars, the location of which he now claims not to know.
Tracking Trudeau's history, Judge Guzman labeled him as "deceitful to the core," noting that he "steadfastly attempted to cheat others for his own personal gain" since the age of 25. Nevertheless, Trudeau's main defense lawyer Tom Kirsch advised that Trudeau intends to appeal the decision, with the disgraced business man claiming contrition. "I have truly had a significant reawakening," said Trudeau to the court. "If I ever do an infomercial again ... I promise: No embellishments, no puffery, no lies."
