Kevin Trudeau gets 10 years in prison

[OBLAMA2009]

Its not a crime to write books, its a crime to commit fraud. He made many unsubstantiated claims including natural cures that were not cures at all. This is the equivalent of selling you a car that doesn't run but claiming that it does. He could be tried for murder as those who attempted his cures and failed to get real medicine may have died because of him.

This guy was a true quack if he believed the stuff he was saying.
"Trudeau made a number of outstanding claims in the book that received widespread media attention. This included that the sun does not cause cancer, sunscreen is one of the major causes of skin cancer and that AIDS is a hoax.[21]"

In his book "Debt Cures “They” Don't Want You to Know About" He actually sanctioned fraud.
Trudeau says that if readers disagree with items on their credit reports, they can dispute them as identity theft; this was the "magic cure" of the book's title.

people say controversial things all the time, and even if they are proved wrong they dont go to jail. did they jail that peter duesberg when he wrote a book saying hiv doesnt cause aids? did they jail jenny mccarthy for writing a book saying vaccines cause autism? do they jail people who say deodorant causes breast cancer?

even if what he says isnt true, at worst he is a jerk, not a criminal. that scary that someone would send someone to jail just for being a prick

 

[Cerb]

people say controversial things all the time, and even if they are proved wrong they dont go to jail. did they jail that peter duesberg when he wrote a book saying hiv doesnt cause aids? did they jail jenny mccarthy for writing a book saying vaccines cause autism? do they jail people who say deodorant causes breast cancer?

even if what he says isnt true, at worst he is a jerk, not a criminal. that scary that someone would send someone to jail just for being a prick

Drug claims not OKed by the FDA are illegal. He profited from drug claims not officially condoned by the FDA*, and then committed fraud and contempt to try to keep from losing money from that.

He definitely doesn't, he sounds like a smart con artist, able to go around all these lawsuits against him.

A mental disease, then? Con artist and good mental health rarely go together.

* this is why supplements, FI, use nomenclature like, "X has been used for Y by Z," or, "CountryZ has approved X for Y," rather than saying, "X is good for problem Y."

 

[PokerGuy]

writing a freakin' book or making an infomercial should NEVER be a crime. hes got to be the only person ever to go to prison for that. they had the ftc prevent him form even coming out with products, thats just ridiculous

Are you really that stupid? He's not going to jail for just writing a book full of lies and cons, he's going to jail because of criminal contempt of court.

Oh, and writing a book isn't a crime, but false advertising and making false claims can be.

 

[Blackjack200]

Are you really that stupid? He's not going to jail for just writing a book full of lies and cons, he's going to jail because of criminal contempt of court.

Oh, and writing a book isn't a crime, but false advertising and making false claims can be.

Why do the articles do such a poor job of explaining this? I read two or three that all went something like this 'bestselling author going to jail for 10 years... was a huckster... books full of scams" with no explanation of what he actually went to jail for.

I figured there was something more going on, since there are tons of garbage "natural cures" books out there with no jail terms for the authors, but didn't think it was worth my time to research it.

 

[ISAslot]

11 yrs from now... 'This is Kevin Trudeau, I just wrote a book filled with secrets they don't want you to know. I was imprisoned for 10 yrs just to keep the secrets from you, but I'm back and ready to share."

 

[Jeffg010]

This guy claimed that there was a cure for herpes and it was in his book. I did buy the book and there was 0 cures for anything in his book. He had a list of 100 things to do like install water filter shower heads, to not using sun screen, and eating organic.

He got what he deserved.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Do you guys who are arguing with OBLAMA2009 realize that he is probably still in grade school and if not in grade school, he is an adult in some home for people who need help to live...have some compassion!!

 

[poofyhairguy]

Its not a crime to write books, its a crime to commit fraud. He made many unsubstantiated claims including natural cures that were not cures at all.

How is that worse than a

img deleted

 

[momeNt]

How is that worse than a

img deleted

Reported for trolling.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Reported for trolling.

"Fraud" is a very high standard to be prosecuted in court. It is meant to be that way, or otherwise it could be applied to things like religion. That was my point.

His issue was NOT fraud IN the books.

The issue was fraudulent claims he made about the book on TV:

Jurors convicted Trudeau of criminal contempt in November for defying a 2004 court order barring him from running false ads about the weight-loss book. Despite the order, he aired the infomercials at least 32,000 times, according to prosecutors.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tv-pitchman-kevin-trudeau-10-year-sentence-22947552

So the problem was not claims made in the book, but claims made in the ads about how effective the books were.

Big difference.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

"Fraud" is a very high standard to be prosecuted in court. It is meant to be that way, or otherwise it could be applied to things like religion. That was my point.

His issue was NOT fraud IN the books.

The issue was fraudulent claims he made about the book on TV:



http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tv-pitchman-kevin-trudeau-10-year-sentence-22947552

So the problem was not claims made in the book, but claims made in the ads about how effective the books were.

Big difference.

Claims made in the book were a problem.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

It wasn't so much the claims in his book. That's protected by free speech. It was more the products that he sold along with the book and the fed banning him from selling one product then he would make something slightly different and sell that too. He did it hundreds of times.

as per the 60 minutes segment I watched after reading the OP.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Claims made in the book were a problem.

When put in a TV advertisement.

Just the book by itself on a store shelf with no promotion would break no laws.

 

[moonbogg]

Selling prayer should be considered fraud as well. Our country loves BS. Hell, you can't even become president without claiming to believe in BS, so how did this guy get tossed in the can?

 

[momeNt]

"Fraud" is a very high standard to be prosecuted in court. It is meant to be that way, or otherwise it could be applied to things like religion. That was my point.

His issue was NOT fraud IN the books.

The issue was fraudulent claims he made about the book on TV:



http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tv-pitchman-kevin-trudeau-10-year-sentence-22947552

So the problem was not claims made in the book, but claims made in the ads about how effective the books were.

Big difference.

Your point was to bring religion into a discussion that, before you got involved, had no mention of religion. So you bring religion into a discussion about fraud charges based on diet health.

You could have simply omitted your first post, and only offered the relevant points of your second post concerning the fraud and the television commercials. Instead you trolled and I reported.

 

[Rudee]

How about all the unsubstantiated claims made in the top selling book 'The Secret', which Oprah Winfrey herself promoted heavily? The people behind that scam of a book should be dragged to Court as well.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Your point was to bring religion into a discussion that, before you got involved, had no mention of religion.

You are right, I did and for good reason. Making claims in a book is not a prosecutable offense. The reason "truth-in-advertising" laws stop at the line of promotion is to protect free speech and religion.

 

[Paladin3]

this is example of what garbage the us legal system is. so writing books and doing informercials is a crime that deserves 10 years in prison? even if what he said was total crap, there are a million other books and infomercials that make just as many false claims and promises. have they put the founder of weight watchers or jenny craig in prison? there are millions of people gaining weight on their rip off programs. what infomercial or self help book isnt a scam? if feel sorry for trudeau, he just got an abusive judge who was jealous of his success (his books were very popular a few years ago) and wanted to send him to prison to get publicity. the real scammer is the judge in this case

Whenever I read something stupid enough to consider putting the author on ignore I tell myself not to because then I'd miss all the funny.

 

[DigDog]

Why is this guy getting jail, and all the bible publishers remain free ?

 

[Strk]

Why is this guy getting jail, and all the bible publishers remain free ?

He refused to pay a fine. Watch the video.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

He refused to pay a fine. Watch the video.

yeah and why was he fined in the first place? for making popular infomercials and books

 

[shortylickens]

Bubba would love this tender piece of white meat.

Not even close.

He'll probably get 10 years probation after bullshitting the system.

At the very worst he's looking at maybe 1 or 2 years in a resort prison and then the kind of parole that barely qualifies as such.

 

[OverVolt]

11 yrs from now... 'This is Kevin Trudeau, I just wrote a book filled with secrets they don't want you to know. I was imprisoned for 10 yrs just to keep the secrets from you, but I'm back and ready to share."

LOL

 

[Pr0d1gy]

This serves as your warning, deny Big Pharma at your own detriment. Thought control.

 

[OverVolt]

This serves as your warning, deny Big Pharma at your own detriment. Thought control.

*Sigh* this is an FDA issue. You CANNOT claim that any food/supplement/device treats XYZ disease without getting it approved by the FDA. Diet supplements are notoriously unreliable when it comes to potency anyway.