This is an email that I received last night:
As the father of one of the unpaid pool players, I recently received a document that outlines the past of the IPT founder, Kevin Trudeau. It is a very disturbing look into the past of the man who is now making promises. He has made promises before. Take a look. I will number the footnotes and will put them underneath the first reference. From then on I will use only the number to reference that same footnote.
“In the mid 1980’s Trudeau was a consultant for Consumer Express, a multilevel marketing group that later merged with Nutrition for Life to form Nutrition for Life International, Inc. (1) From: Michael Davis, “He Brings Trouble, Growth”, The Houston Chronicle, 1996.
NOTE: Multilevel marketing programs become illegal pyramid schemes when their incentives stem from signing up more members rather than actually selling products or services.
In 1990 Trudeau filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Dallas. (1)
Also in 1990 Trudeau posed as a doctor to increase his credibility with a bank and deposited $80,000 in false checks. He later pled guilty to larceny and spent 21 days in jail. (2) From: The Skeptic’s Dictionary and (3) Michael Davis, “Nutrition Suit: Firm is a Pyramid Scheme”, Houston Chronicle, April 17, 1996.
In 1991 Trudeau pled guilty in Boston Federal District Court to credit card fraud after using his Mega Memory customer’s credit card numbers for his own purposes. (4) From: “Nutrition for Life’s Top Recruiter Has a Criminal Past: Despite Convictions, Trudeau Gets New Distributors to Fork Out the Cash”, The Wall Street Journal, January 19, 1996.
While serving prison time for two years in Boran Federal Penitentiary in Southern California Trudeau met his future NFLI business associate, Jules Lieb, who was serving time for conspiracy. (1)
In 1994 Trudeau became a business partner for NFLI and in March of 1995 began marketing distributorships for them. (1)
In September of 1995 NFLI posted sales of over $32 million, up from $17.6 million in 1994. Trudeau was given stock options that held paper profits of more than $11 million.
In April of 1996 NFLI disclosed that it was being investigated by the SEC for how it recruited dealers to sell it’s products and how it signed up distributors. That same month Trudeau was rewarded with $3 million from NFLI for recruiting thousands of new distributors. At the same time KPMG Peat Marwick resigned as NFLI auditors without explanation. (3)
On April 17, 1996, under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act, the Illinois Attorney General filed suit against Trudeau and Lieb charging them with running an illegal pyramid scheme with NFLI and another multilevel marketer, Nightingale Conant. On April 24th NFLI stock lost approximately half of it’s value.(1)
In July of 1996 Trudeau and Lieb made out-of-court settlements with eight states that had accused them of running illegal pyramid schemes. Part of that settlement was a cash payment of $185,000. (5) From: “Nutrition for Life Expanding to Britain”, The Houston Chronicle, August 7, 1996.
That same year Trudeau was banned from operating in the state of Michigan. (1)
On August 23rd, 1996, a Texas class action lawsuit charged Trudeau and other NFLI executives with misrepresenting and/or omitting material information concerning NFLI’s business, marketing, sales and earnings. The suit was settled when NFLI agreed to pay $2 million in cash to individuals who purchased common stock and warrants in the company during the class period. NFLI also agreed to pay $60 thousand to the plaintiff’s attorneys for their fees. (2)
In 1998 the FTC charged Trudeau with making false or misleading claims relating to six of his infomercials. (7) From: Kevin Trudeau excerpt from Wikipedia. Trudeau was forced to pay $500,000 in fines to the FTC, was barred from making false claims for products in the future, and was made to put aside another $500,000 to assure compliance.
In August of 1998 NFLI dropped Trudeau because of a decreasing sales force and negative publicity brought about by his criminal history. NFLI bought Trudeau’s stock and warrants for approximately $450 thousand. NFLI CFO David Rodrigue reported that Trudeau’s negative comment about the company and lawsuits against the company and the salesmen left independent distributors disenchanted. (6) From: Jenalia Moreno, “Trudeau’s Only a Mega Memory Now: Nutrition For Life Drops Infomercial Salesman”, The Houston Chronicle, August 20, 1998.
In June of 2003 the FTC filed complaints against Trudeau for fraudulent and unsubstantiated disease claims concerning coral calcium. The FTC additionally filed a complaint that Trudeau violated the former FTC order. (8) From: FTC Press Release, September 7, 2004. In July of that same year Trudeau entered into a stipulated preliminary injunction prohibiting him from making the challenged coral calcium claims. (8) The following month Trudeau was fined for violating the July injunction when he disseminated a direct mail piece and an infomercial making the prohibited coral calcium claims. Trudeau was again ordered to cease all coral calcium marketing. (2)
In September of 2003 the FTC and Trudeau reached a settlement. (8) Trudeau must pay a $2million fine to the FTC. He was further banned from appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public, except for truthful infomercials for informational publications.
In September of 2003 an infomercial selling “Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About” debuts. (9) From: Salon.com, Christopher Dreher, “What Kevin Trudeau Doesn’t Want You to Know About”, July 26, 2005.
On February 28, 2005 Trudeau filed two separate lawsuits against the United States government, charging the FTC with publishing false and misleading information. In response, FTC attorney Daniel Kaufman said: “I would describe (Trudeau) as a habitual fraud artist. The simple fact is, once Kevin Trudeau stops lying to consumers, we will stop suing him.” (10,11) From (10) PRNewsire, Chicago, “National Consumer Advocate and FTC Critic Seeks End to Ongoing Retaliation”, Feb 28, 2005 and (11) “Many Say Natural Cures Claim Hard to Swallow”, ABCNEWS.com, March 1, 2005
In July of 2005, Trudeau’s “Natural Cures” became the NY Times #1 bestseller, nut is one of the most negatively criticized best-selling books in history. Health-fraud expert Dr. Stephen Barrret described Trudeau as “the undisputed king of false infomercial advertising.” (9)
END OF DOCUMENT
And this is the man whom everyone is now supposed to trust will pay them and to believe his promises? Tigers do not often change their stripes.
As the father of one of the unpaid pool players, I recently received a document that outlines the past of the IPT founder, Kevin Trudeau. It is a very disturbing look into the past of the man who is now making promises. He has made promises before. Take a look. I will number the footnotes and will put them underneath the first reference. From then on I will use only the number to reference that same footnote.
“In the mid 1980’s Trudeau was a consultant for Consumer Express, a multilevel marketing group that later merged with Nutrition for Life to form Nutrition for Life International, Inc. (1) From: Michael Davis, “He Brings Trouble, Growth”, The Houston Chronicle, 1996.
NOTE: Multilevel marketing programs become illegal pyramid schemes when their incentives stem from signing up more members rather than actually selling products or services.
In 1990 Trudeau filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Dallas. (1)
Also in 1990 Trudeau posed as a doctor to increase his credibility with a bank and deposited $80,000 in false checks. He later pled guilty to larceny and spent 21 days in jail. (2) From: The Skeptic’s Dictionary and (3) Michael Davis, “Nutrition Suit: Firm is a Pyramid Scheme”, Houston Chronicle, April 17, 1996.
In 1991 Trudeau pled guilty in Boston Federal District Court to credit card fraud after using his Mega Memory customer’s credit card numbers for his own purposes. (4) From: “Nutrition for Life’s Top Recruiter Has a Criminal Past: Despite Convictions, Trudeau Gets New Distributors to Fork Out the Cash”, The Wall Street Journal, January 19, 1996.
While serving prison time for two years in Boran Federal Penitentiary in Southern California Trudeau met his future NFLI business associate, Jules Lieb, who was serving time for conspiracy. (1)
In 1994 Trudeau became a business partner for NFLI and in March of 1995 began marketing distributorships for them. (1)
In September of 1995 NFLI posted sales of over $32 million, up from $17.6 million in 1994. Trudeau was given stock options that held paper profits of more than $11 million.
In April of 1996 NFLI disclosed that it was being investigated by the SEC for how it recruited dealers to sell it’s products and how it signed up distributors. That same month Trudeau was rewarded with $3 million from NFLI for recruiting thousands of new distributors. At the same time KPMG Peat Marwick resigned as NFLI auditors without explanation. (3)
On April 17, 1996, under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act, the Illinois Attorney General filed suit against Trudeau and Lieb charging them with running an illegal pyramid scheme with NFLI and another multilevel marketer, Nightingale Conant. On April 24th NFLI stock lost approximately half of it’s value.(1)
In July of 1996 Trudeau and Lieb made out-of-court settlements with eight states that had accused them of running illegal pyramid schemes. Part of that settlement was a cash payment of $185,000. (5) From: “Nutrition for Life Expanding to Britain”, The Houston Chronicle, August 7, 1996.
That same year Trudeau was banned from operating in the state of Michigan. (1)
On August 23rd, 1996, a Texas class action lawsuit charged Trudeau and other NFLI executives with misrepresenting and/or omitting material information concerning NFLI’s business, marketing, sales and earnings. The suit was settled when NFLI agreed to pay $2 million in cash to individuals who purchased common stock and warrants in the company during the class period. NFLI also agreed to pay $60 thousand to the plaintiff’s attorneys for their fees. (2)
In 1998 the FTC charged Trudeau with making false or misleading claims relating to six of his infomercials. (7) From: Kevin Trudeau excerpt from Wikipedia. Trudeau was forced to pay $500,000 in fines to the FTC, was barred from making false claims for products in the future, and was made to put aside another $500,000 to assure compliance.
In August of 1998 NFLI dropped Trudeau because of a decreasing sales force and negative publicity brought about by his criminal history. NFLI bought Trudeau’s stock and warrants for approximately $450 thousand. NFLI CFO David Rodrigue reported that Trudeau’s negative comment about the company and lawsuits against the company and the salesmen left independent distributors disenchanted. (6) From: Jenalia Moreno, “Trudeau’s Only a Mega Memory Now: Nutrition For Life Drops Infomercial Salesman”, The Houston Chronicle, August 20, 1998.
In June of 2003 the FTC filed complaints against Trudeau for fraudulent and unsubstantiated disease claims concerning coral calcium. The FTC additionally filed a complaint that Trudeau violated the former FTC order. (8) From: FTC Press Release, September 7, 2004. In July of that same year Trudeau entered into a stipulated preliminary injunction prohibiting him from making the challenged coral calcium claims. (8) The following month Trudeau was fined for violating the July injunction when he disseminated a direct mail piece and an infomercial making the prohibited coral calcium claims. Trudeau was again ordered to cease all coral calcium marketing. (2)
In September of 2003 the FTC and Trudeau reached a settlement. (8) Trudeau must pay a $2million fine to the FTC. He was further banned from appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public, except for truthful infomercials for informational publications.
In September of 2003 an infomercial selling “Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About” debuts. (9) From: Salon.com, Christopher Dreher, “What Kevin Trudeau Doesn’t Want You to Know About”, July 26, 2005.
On February 28, 2005 Trudeau filed two separate lawsuits against the United States government, charging the FTC with publishing false and misleading information. In response, FTC attorney Daniel Kaufman said: “I would describe (Trudeau) as a habitual fraud artist. The simple fact is, once Kevin Trudeau stops lying to consumers, we will stop suing him.” (10,11) From (10) PRNewsire, Chicago, “National Consumer Advocate and FTC Critic Seeks End to Ongoing Retaliation”, Feb 28, 2005 and (11) “Many Say Natural Cures Claim Hard to Swallow”, ABCNEWS.com, March 1, 2005
In July of 2005, Trudeau’s “Natural Cures” became the NY Times #1 bestseller, nut is one of the most negatively criticized best-selling books in history. Health-fraud expert Dr. Stephen Barrret described Trudeau as “the undisputed king of false infomercial advertising.” (9)
END OF DOCUMENT
And this is the man whom everyone is now supposed to trust will pay them and to believe his promises? Tigers do not often change their stripes.
