Are you aware that the overwhelming majority of what you eat everyday is poisoning you? Or that drugs actually cause illness and disease? Kevin Trudeau makes these blatanty false claims in his book "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About." And now he's paying for it.
The self-proclaimed "fearless whistleblower" was sentenced Monday to 10 years in jail on top of an earlier fine $37 million for cheating people out of millions with his weight-loss book and fraudulent infomercials. (Via WLS-TV)
The convicted pitchman attempted to apologize with a 20 minute speech in court saying: "I see now that I have made many mistakes along the way. I have learned my lesson in more ways and at more levels than you could ever know. If I could do it all over again, I would do things very, very differently." (Via WMAQ)
But the judge wasn't impressed and instead slammed Trudeau for his dubious ways.
"Since the age of 25, he has steadfastly attempted to cheat others for his own personal gain. He is decietful to the very core."
Trudeau was banned from infomercials and fined $2 million by the FTC in 2004 in order to "shut down an infomercial empire that has misled American consumers for years."
The FTC says Trudeau violated that ban in 2007 by misrepresenting one of his books in another infomercial. A writer at Slate found Trudeau's sentencing overdue, saying:
"I have to admit to a powerful sense of schadenfreude; Trudeau’s been avoiding any sort of real punishment for years. Remember, through his books, radio show, and infomercials, he sold quack cures aimed at people who were sick. I have very, very little sympathy for him."
USA Today reports that Trudeau's attorney argued his pitches were not unlike other ads. "Watch any television commercial for any product — it's the views and opinions of the persons who are making and selling the product."
Trudeau has said that he plans on appealing the sentence.
