Second judge slams cell door on Trudeau
A federal judge slapped a second lock on the cell door of imprisoned TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau on Thursday afternoon — saying he still doesn’t trust the convicted liar.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman’s order that Trudeau be indefinitely held in custody for failing to disclose where he’s hiding his immense wealth came a week after another federal judge, Ronald Guzman, ordered the Oak Brook resident locked up at the end of his criminal contempt trial.
While Gettleman noted that “it may strike Mr. Trudeau or others as odd” that he was jailing a man who already was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center while he awaits sentencing, the ruling has real consequences for Trudeau.
Not only does Trudeau, 50, now have to separately convince two judges before he’s released, but any prison sentence Guzman hands him in the new year will begin only once Gettleman believes Trudeau has come clean about his hidden assets.
For more than six years, Trudeau has failed to pay a cent of a $38 million fine Gettleman imposed on him for violating a court order when he misrepresented the contents of one of his diet books in an infomercial.
Last week, a jury in Guzman’s courtroom found that Trudeau also was guilty of criminal contempt when he made those TV ads.
Trudeau claims he’s broke and can’t pay the fine, but Gettleman said on Thursday, “I just don’t believe him.”