Criminal history
1990: Larceny & prison
Trudeau's legal problems are long-standing. In 1990, he posed as a doctor in order to deposit $80,000 in false checks, and in 1991 he pled guilty to larceny after he had provided false information to obtain credit cards which he used for his own purposes. He spent two years in prison because of this conviction.(Choi, 2005) Most people in opposition to Trudeau's claims point to this felony conviction as a good reason not to trust him.
1996: SEC
Trudeau rebounded, making a small fortune working for Nutrition For Life, a multi-level marketing program. However, in 1996, his recruitment practices ran afoul of the states of Illinois and Michigan, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Michigan went so far as to forbid him from operating in the state.
1998: FTC fine
Then, in 1998, he was forced to pay $500,000 in consumer redress to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), relating to six infomercials he had produced and which the FTC determined he had made false or misleading claims.
2004: FTC ban, fines
More recently, on September 7, 2004, the FTC announced that they were banning Trudeau from "appearing in, producing, or disseminating any future infomercials that advertise any type of product" because he repeatedly made "fraudulent" and "unsubstantiated" claims in them. [1] In addition, Trudeau paid $500,000 in cash and transferred ownership of a luxury vehicle and a piece of residential property in California to satisfy a $2 million fine against him. Lydia Parnes, Acting Director of the FTC?s Bureau of Consumer Protection stated that ?This ban is meant to shut down an infomercial empire that has misled American consumers for years.?
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