Kevin Trudeau: Hero or heel?
By Manolo Iñigo / Inquirer
It's none of my business meddling in the affairs of American entrepreneur
Kevin Trudeau, but I’m writing about him just the same mainly because he is
the organizer of the International Pool Tour.
The IPT launched with great fanfare last year the world’s richest billiards
events, including last month’s $3 million IPT World 8-Ball Open held in Reno,
Nevada, where Efren “Bata” Reyes emerged champion.
Almost overnight, the 42-year-old Trudeau became the man of the hour,
regarded by many as a savior to pool. But his sudden entry into the world of
billiards has also been met with apprehension, distrust and cynicism.
Six weeks after the IPT Open in Reno, Trudeau has yet to pay the winners.
He has apologized for the delay, saying he fully understood and
acknowledged the players’ frustration and concern.
But he assured them they will be paid within the shortest time possible,
especially now that the negotiations between Ho Interactive (owned by
Macau billionaire and gambling mogul Stanley Ho) and IPT have been finalized.
Trudeau launched the IPT in August 2005 with a $225,000 match between
Billiards Congress of America Hall of Famers Mike Sigel and Loree Jon Jones for
the IPT World 8-Ball championship. The come-backing Sigel won and
pocketed the champion’s purse of $150,000, then the biggest prize in US pool
history.
However, pool guru and Billiards Digest publisher Mike Panozzo said many
questions were asked when Trudeau first announced the Sigel-Jones match-up.
“Critics quickly alerted players and industry reps about Trudeau’s controversial
past,” Panozzo recalled. (Trudeau had spent 24 months in federal prison for
credit card fraud and larceny.--MRI)
“When you create something new, like the IPT, the first reaction isn’t ‘Great!’
It’s ‘Witch! Charlatan!’ That’s what happens,” Trudeau said.
He pointed out that the opening quote in his best-selling book, “Natural Cures
They Don’t Want You To Know About,” is by Albert Einstein who said, “Great
spirits always get violent opposition from mediocre minds.” His book, which
has so far sold more than three million copies, espouses cures and remedies
that don’t require drugs and surgery. A pioneer of infomercial, Trudeau is now
worth more than $2 billion.
In 1982 a credit card company cancelled his card, for reasons the young
Trudeau feels were unjustified. He retaliated, Panozzo said, by getting
another card using his middle name, Mark.
“Trudeau insists everything he charged to that card was paid off promptly,
but when it was discovered, it clearly constituted credit card fraud.” Around
the same time, Panozzo continued, Trudeau bounced seven checks from
accounts he had in various banks around the country, constituting seven
counts of larceny. Although Trudeau insists the mistake was simple
miscalculation and there was no intent to defraud (“No one lost a penny,” he
says), the crimes earned him 24 months in federal prison.
His stint at the minimum security prison camp in Boron, California, served as a
strong wake-up call to the value of ethics. By the mid-1990s, he was back in
business, selling products from memory courses to weight-loss programs on
television and becoming one of America’s fastest-rising business
entrepreneurs.
Trudeau started his checkered business career at an early age. Born in Lynn,
Massachusetts, he sold newspapers, cut neighbors’ lawns and dressed as a
clown while performing magic tricks at children’s parties. He also worked as a
pin boy at a bowling alley where he got his first taste of pool.
“Look,” Trudeau said in a recent interview. “I'm not trying to be a savior to
pool. That’s not my motivation. My motivation is always, first and foremost,
to positively impact the whole person. I know a lot of pool players and I like
them. But they’ve always struggled. How cool would it be to do something
where your friends could do really well, and you could do really well, and
you’re all having fun together?”
IPT’s goal, he stressed, is to complete Ho’s acquisition and get all the players
paid immediately so that his group can focus on the Masters Tournament in
Chicago and the future.
“Our plans,” Trudeau said, “are to bring the company public in January. We
are working out something to make all IPT players partners in this venture
with many ways to benefit them financially beyond just tournament winnings.”
Source:
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/sports/view_article.php?article_id=29043
By Manolo Iñigo / Inquirer
It's none of my business meddling in the affairs of American entrepreneur
Kevin Trudeau, but I’m writing about him just the same mainly because he is
the organizer of the International Pool Tour.
The IPT launched with great fanfare last year the world’s richest billiards
events, including last month’s $3 million IPT World 8-Ball Open held in Reno,
Nevada, where Efren “Bata” Reyes emerged champion.
Almost overnight, the 42-year-old Trudeau became the man of the hour,
regarded by many as a savior to pool. But his sudden entry into the world of
billiards has also been met with apprehension, distrust and cynicism.
Six weeks after the IPT Open in Reno, Trudeau has yet to pay the winners.
He has apologized for the delay, saying he fully understood and
acknowledged the players’ frustration and concern.
But he assured them they will be paid within the shortest time possible,
especially now that the negotiations between Ho Interactive (owned by
Macau billionaire and gambling mogul Stanley Ho) and IPT have been finalized.
Trudeau launched the IPT in August 2005 with a $225,000 match between
Billiards Congress of America Hall of Famers Mike Sigel and Loree Jon Jones for
the IPT World 8-Ball championship. The come-backing Sigel won and
pocketed the champion’s purse of $150,000, then the biggest prize in US pool
history.
However, pool guru and Billiards Digest publisher Mike Panozzo said many
questions were asked when Trudeau first announced the Sigel-Jones match-up.
“Critics quickly alerted players and industry reps about Trudeau’s controversial
past,” Panozzo recalled. (Trudeau had spent 24 months in federal prison for
credit card fraud and larceny.--MRI)
“When you create something new, like the IPT, the first reaction isn’t ‘Great!’
It’s ‘Witch! Charlatan!’ That’s what happens,” Trudeau said.
He pointed out that the opening quote in his best-selling book, “Natural Cures
They Don’t Want You To Know About,” is by Albert Einstein who said, “Great
spirits always get violent opposition from mediocre minds.” His book, which
has so far sold more than three million copies, espouses cures and remedies
that don’t require drugs and surgery. A pioneer of infomercial, Trudeau is now
worth more than $2 billion.
In 1982 a credit card company cancelled his card, for reasons the young
Trudeau feels were unjustified. He retaliated, Panozzo said, by getting
another card using his middle name, Mark.
“Trudeau insists everything he charged to that card was paid off promptly,
but when it was discovered, it clearly constituted credit card fraud.” Around
the same time, Panozzo continued, Trudeau bounced seven checks from
accounts he had in various banks around the country, constituting seven
counts of larceny. Although Trudeau insists the mistake was simple
miscalculation and there was no intent to defraud (“No one lost a penny,” he
says), the crimes earned him 24 months in federal prison.
His stint at the minimum security prison camp in Boron, California, served as a
strong wake-up call to the value of ethics. By the mid-1990s, he was back in
business, selling products from memory courses to weight-loss programs on
television and becoming one of America’s fastest-rising business
entrepreneurs.
Trudeau started his checkered business career at an early age. Born in Lynn,
Massachusetts, he sold newspapers, cut neighbors’ lawns and dressed as a
clown while performing magic tricks at children’s parties. He also worked as a
pin boy at a bowling alley where he got his first taste of pool.
“Look,” Trudeau said in a recent interview. “I'm not trying to be a savior to
pool. That’s not my motivation. My motivation is always, first and foremost,
to positively impact the whole person. I know a lot of pool players and I like
them. But they’ve always struggled. How cool would it be to do something
where your friends could do really well, and you could do really well, and
you’re all having fun together?”
IPT’s goal, he stressed, is to complete Ho’s acquisition and get all the players
paid immediately so that his group can focus on the Masters Tournament in
Chicago and the future.
“Our plans,” Trudeau said, “are to bring the company public in January. We
are working out something to make all IPT players partners in this venture
with many ways to benefit them financially beyond just tournament winnings.”
Source:
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/sports/view_article.php?article_id=29043
