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The Feds Slap Kevin Trudeau - Again

by Mike McBride
36 replies
Once again, a federal court has upheld the ban on Kevin Trudeau from producing or broadcasting self-promoting infomercials, saying Trudeau "has a long history of consumer deception as well as findings of contempt by this court."

Read more here: The contempt citation they do want you to know about: Consumer Reports Money & Shopping Blog
#feds #kevin #slap #trudeau
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Dominic
    I think I looked over his natural cures book once... A lot of stuff makes sense in it, common sense. Interesting but if I do recall correctly, he directed people to different sources, products, etc... Seemed a bit deceptive.
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  • Profile picture of the author JustVisiting
    Stop doing infomercials ? !!

    or emigrate from 'the land of the free'

    I guess any 'regular' product would have simply had a reasonable fine levied against them and not the entire royalties !!!! Gotta face it, the authorities do not like, and never will like, folk that make more money than them for apparently so little work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    You have to admit that he's really good at making an infomercial look more like a talk show or documentary than an ad.

    The book does have some good stuff in it, which has nothing to do with his legal issues.
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  • Profile picture of the author Headhunting55
    The Natural Cures book DOES have a lot of really good stuff in it,....
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    • Profile picture of the author Ken Preuss
      While I have zero respect for the guy as a human being, you've got to admit he's a brilliant, brilliant marketer.

      Ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
    The more they ban him...the more money he'll make! They're validating his "controversy" and he spins it to look like a coverup.

    "Here's more information they don't want you to know.."
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Dominic
      Originally Posted by BlueSquares View Post

      The more they ban him...the more money he'll make! They're validating his "controversy" and he spins it to look like a coverup.

      "Here's more information they don't want you to know.."
      Interesting concept. The money involved is very big. I'm not talking about Kevin's.

      This idea reminds me of how the MP3 and music piracy got popular because of the publicity that Napster got. If the RIAA never took any serious action, would they be where they're at now? Would record sales be up?
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      • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
        This type of stuff is not my cup of tea but it's interesting to watch them spinning the controversy to make more sales.

        There is a current launch from a guy who got a lot of flack over how he did his forced continuity on his last launch now he's spun it around and created this new product and launched based on that and how poorly he felt he was treated because the world is jealous of his success. So I'm sure Kevin Trudeau will re-group again and resurface.

        Even now, there is a very popular guy in the IM niche was slapped down by the feds a few years ago and he's back stronger than ever. Amazing how they can re-group and come back even stronger and make even more money.
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        • Profile picture of the author tomw
          Originally Posted by Alan Petersen View Post

          This type of stuff is not my cup of tea but it's interesting to watch them spinning the controversy to make more sales.

          There is a current launch from a guy who got a lot of flack over how he did his forced continuity on his last launch now he's spun it around and created this new product and launched based on that and how poorly he felt he was treated because the world is jealous of his success. So I'm sure Kevin Trudeau will re-group again and resurface.

          Even now, there is a very popular guy in the IM niche was slapped down by the feds a few years ago and he's back stronger than ever. Amazing how they can re-group and come back even stronger and make even more money.
          [deleted by author: Life's too damn short...]
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          • Profile picture of the author GarrieWilson
            Originally Posted by tomw View Post

            That "guy" did get a whole lot of uncalled for flak by alleged marketers who should know better. He's a decent guy.
            No he deserved it. If its the one I am thinking of.
            The "popular guy - slapped down by the Feds" as you say was actually a victim of other unscrupulous resellers of his product although he was admittedly (as he freely does!) a little naive.
            LOL No, not at all.

            Please do some research.

            They are actually friends of many of the people here...
            Point being?
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            • Profile picture of the author bestoptimized
              His information on health is very good and it is true that the FDA does not want people to know that you can cure nearly anything without medicine (there are many books about this and it is documented).

              What I don't know is why they take away his earnings from his book when they allow The South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet (this guy died of his own diet), and others to go on distributing totally false information.

              I don't think we have free speech anymore.
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              • Profile picture of the author Rachel Rofe
                Originally Posted by bestoptimized View Post

                His information on health is very good and it is true that the FDA does not want people to know that you can cure nearly anything without medicine (there are many books about this and it is documented).
                Agreed. I've heard countless firsthand stories from people impacted by the FDA, but I'm thinking it's not the smartest idea to list them all out on a public forum.

                Kevin's books have landslides of information, in my opinion. I've gotten a lot of value from a few of them (and tested them too).
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              • Profile picture of the author adamv
                Originally Posted by bestoptimized View Post

                His information on health is very good and it is true that the FDA does not want people to know that you can cure nearly anything without medicine (there are many books about this and it is documented).

                What I don't know is why they take away his earnings from his book when they allow The South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet (this guy died of his own diet), and others to go on distributing totally false information.

                I don't think we have free speech anymore.
                Dr Atkins did not die from his own diet. He slipped on some ice on the sidewalk and suffered a head injury. After spending some time in a coma he later died. Unless his diet has something to do with getting a big crack in your dome, the diet had nothing to do with it.
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              • Profile picture of the author clint48
                I sold Trudeau's products and some customers told me they were very happy with them, so I don't have a problem with his products even though some people did not like the products. I am not going into how these products were sold, but I will tell you people were being ripped off and I had to stop selling them after I found out what was going on. What his company did was steal from people, just like any crook would do on the street.

                Clint
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                • Profile picture of the author Adam Kenzington
                  Originally Posted by clint48 View Post

                  I sold Trudeau's products and some customers told me they were very happy with them, so I don't have a problem with his products even though some people did not like the products. I am not going into how these products were sold, but I will tell you people were being ripped off and I had to stop selling them after I found out what was going on. What his company did was steal from people, just like any crook would do on the street.

                  Clint
                  Oh, come on, Clint, you can't just leave us hang like that.

                  You make these broad claims, and then say "I am not going into how these products were sold, but I will tell you people were being ripped off and I had to stop selling them after I found out what was going on. What his company did was steal from people, just like any crook would do on the street."

                  Give us some details. I have seen the books. The first one, especially, I didn't care for, because you paid for a book to tell you where you could go and buy your cure. But, "Steal from People"? How so?

                  The books weren't to my tastes, but he has every right to sell them. How would you like it if you created a product and had some government department tell you, "you can't sell that" and decide to fine you to teach you a lesson or make an example of you. There is a money-back guarantee on his stuff.

                  But really, back up your story with some facts...Inquiring minds want to know! (oh yea, and me too.)

                  Adam
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                  • Profile picture of the author clint48
                    Originally Posted by Adam Kenzington View Post

                    Oh, come on, Clint, you can't just leave us hang like that.

                    You make these broad claims, and then say "I am not going into how these products were sold, but I will tell you people were being ripped off and I had to stop selling them after I found out what was going on. What his company did was steal from people, just like any crook would do on the street."

                    Give us some details. I have seen the books. The first one, especially, I didn't care for, because you paid for a book to tell you where you could go and buy your cure. But, "Steal from People"? How so?

                    The books weren't to my tastes, but he has every right to sell them. How would you like it if you created a product and had some government department tell you, "you can't sell that" and decide to fine you to teach you a lesson or make an example of you. There is a money-back guarantee on his stuff.

                    But really, back up your story with some facts...Inquiring minds want to know! (oh yea, and me too.)

                    Adam
                    Adam, I will just give you one example, but there is much more. We had to offer the free newsletter and website even if the person didn't have a computer. After the first free month the price went to around $9.00 a month. The problem with that is the only way to cancel the newsletter and website was to log in to the website. Both had to be canceled or the charges continued. If they couldn't receive email they never got a password to sign in to the website. Most of these people had to cancel their credit cards to stop the $9.00 payment each month.

                    Clint
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    For years he has had the fines worked into his profit model.

    He makes $22 million... pays $5 million in fines - gets banned
    from TV for 3 years... and he'll just write another book.

    He's a brilliant marketer and, probably, amoral.

    J.P. Getty was said to be without moral qualms in the way
    he did business - only self-interest. People who understood
    that about him were able to meet him on those terms.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ricter
      Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye View Post

      J.P. Getty was said to be without moral qualms in the way
      he did business - only self-interest. People who understood
      that about him were able to meet him on those terms.
      Like a mugger? ; )
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  • Profile picture of the author Ivan Correces
    You never know...maybe he'll turn to internet marketing LMAO
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  • Profile picture of the author Scot Standke
    Seems the suit was based on one of his weight loss books, not the natural cures one.

    Looks like he is just banned from the promotion of them via infomercial.

    "The order bans Trudeau from "participating in the production or publication of any infomercial for any product, including books, in which Mr. Trudeau or any related entity has an interest" for three years. Trudeau also was ordered to pay almost $5.2 million, which the court called a conservative estimated of the royalties from the weight loss book."

    I would not be surprised to see him pop up in this area soon.

    I would imagine he could command a pretty penny in consulting.

    Not sure how ethical the guy is or not, but I'm bummed because he was a brilliant marketer, what the hell am I going to watch on those sleepless nights now?

    LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyPhunk
    Kevin Trudeau FTW.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Brownsword
    Based solely on what I've read in this thread and in the link in the first post, the problem is that the sales copy promised one thing, but never delivered on that promise.

    That breaks the first rule of copywriting anyway.

    Best regards,
    Tom

    P.S. -- The first rule? In my opinion, "under promise and over deliver".
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    Wasn't this guy peddling DAILY STEROID INJECTIONS as a
    "safe" weight loss secret "THEY" don't want you to know about?

    I'm a natural health person myself - but telling fat folks to shoot-up
    like junkies is a perversion, worse than the health-damaging
    Atkins Diet that sends the body into Ketosis and makes dieters
    smell like a sun-baked corpse - also heart problems, et al.

    I have little problem actually with Trudeau's infomercials... the ones
    I saw anyway. He was telling people fasting is good for them and
    for the average couch potato it probably would be worth a try.
    The HGH injection diet is a pretty twisted thing to recommend. Hopefully
    not too many people actually did this to themselves.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    Loren, what about the health effects of obesity in the first place? People who bash various diets (that actually work for weight loss) never seem to consider that.

    I'm referring to Atkins here, since that has helped so many people. I don't know the details of Trudeau's weight loss info.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
      Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood View Post

      Loren, what about the health effects of obesity in the first place? People who bash various diets (that actually work for weight loss) never seem to consider that.

      I'm referring to Atkins here, since that has helped so many people. I don't know the details of Trudeau's weight loss info.
      Atkins gets a bad rap.

      Many, many, many years ago before Atkins became famous for his "Diet Revolution" book, my doctor had read some material produced by Dr. Atkins and put me on a diet based on his work. I lost 60 pounds in rapid fashion.

      In reading Atkins' original work, you come to find out that he developed this diet for his morbidly obese patients. This is because he simply couldn't get those people to do reasonable portion control or to stay on any sort of reduced-calorie diet. They were simply used to eating massive quantities of food. Atkins determined that they were far more health risks from their obesity than from his diet.

      The PROBLEM with the Atkins diet, at least for me, is that it doesn't really teach you to eat less. It is difficult to transition to a regular diet once you've lost the weight on the Atkins diet.
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    Well Chris, I dunno - I never did it but it sent a friend
    of mine to the hospital. Look up liver Ketosis and see
    if you think that would be a smart way to loose a few
    pounds.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeff Seely
      Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye View Post

      Well Chris, I dunno - I never did it but it sent a friend
      of mine to the hospital. Look up liver Ketosis and see
      if you think that would be a smart way to loose a few
      pounds.
      I can sense this becoming a health debate. Not to derail the OP too much, but ketosis is not necessarily a bad thing. Many organs (such as your heart) "prefer" to run on ketones over glucose, as this leaves more glucose molecules for the brain.

      People have knee-jerk reactions against anything that appears to be a fad or marketing scam -- whether it's Atkins, Trudeau, or even those "make money online" folks. It's easy to make criticisms from that kind of pedestal without really going in and doing the research yourself (first hand or second).

      A few decades back no scientist believed the claims of lucid dreaming because the only lucid dreamers were "new age hippies", therefore must be full of BS. Sometimes being the left-minded scientists doesn't always lead to truth.

      So yes, Trudeau comes across as a slimy, unethical marketer. I've only flipped through his "natural cures" book, and unfortunately it did contain some common sense truths about health, although I personally hated the book's presentation style, from the little that I actually read of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author JHamilton
    Without all of the exact details it is hard to know, but there is alot of information out there about the FDA wanting to eliminate knowledge of natural cures (such as diabetes) because of the multibillion dollar pharmaceutical industry. Trudeau can't be any worse than the guy that just got walloped with 20 years for selling Enzyte (which apparently did absolutely nothing and had a rediculous refund policy).
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    I met Kevin around 1984 in Chicago.

    At the time he was selling his original Memory Masters course as I recall. He was going to sales offices in the suburbs and city selling his seminars and audio cassette programs.

    He was without a doubt the sharpest salesman I had met. Had every answer to every objection. Was persistent beyond belief and sold many in my office and around our area. I know other sales managers that tried everything to recruit HIM for their businesses - he was that good.

    (This was all before he went to prison for the check writing fraud and credit card fraud in Boston)...he couldn;t have been more than 21 or 22 years old when I met him.

    His gripe with doctors and medical industry goes deep. He was adopted and unable to obtain any medical records of natural parents and blames government and medical establishment.

    Just an absolutely driven individual. I doubt ANYTHING the government would do to him (short of jail, again) would deter him.

    Anyway, the first time I saw him on an old infomercial I about fell over!...
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  • Profile picture of the author James Schramko
    I am still avoiding Diet drinks with fake sugars. He said they wreak havoc on neurotransmitters....
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  • Profile picture of the author Richard Tunnah
    I know Kevin got into trouble with one or both of his shopping channels (with the authorities) he had running here in the UK a few years ago and both closed down after that. No idea what the issue was to be honest.

    Rich
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  • Profile picture of the author Internet Stores
    That was a great video! I know someone who bought the book thinking that it was just a simple read and just start implementing the ideas from it, but instead you have to get shots etc. So, the weight loss ideas aren't exactly "easy" and that anyone can follow!

    Thanks, good thread!
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