INFOMERCIAL PITCHMAN GETS 10-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE
Infomercials, books cited alternative cures
Kevin Trudeau, author of unconventional health books, defied a 2004 court order barring him from running false ads. He aired the infomercials 32,000 times. U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman called Trudeau “deceitful to the core.”
“Ten years in jail is a long time, and he is obviously disappointed.”
Tom Kirsch, Kevin Trudeau’s attorney
Popular TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau, who made a career out of hawking unconventional or unproven health advice in books and infomercials, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for bilking consumers.
Critics have compared the 50year-old Trudeau, author of the best-selling Natural Cures ‘They’
Don’t Want You to Know About, to an old-time carnival barker, selling cures for everything under the sun.
And while infomercials are often mocked for selling cheap goods, they’re also big business.
The U.S. market for infomercials was estimated to be $213.7 million in 2013 and is projected to reach $252.3 million by 2015, according to an analysis by Global Industry Analysts. For years, Trudeau has been a mainstay in the infomercial world.
Like any author, Trudeau has a First Amendment right to publish his ideas about health. But he’s often run afoul of the law for making what authorities say are false marketing claims.
His claims about coral calcium — made from Japanese sea coral — drew a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit in 2003 that accused Trudeau and associates of making unsubstantiated claims of it as a cure for cancer, heart disease and other maladies.
Trudeau, who has tangled with the FTC over product claims since 1998, settled in 2004 and agreed to no longer appear in or produce ads shilling goods or services.
Trudeau has been jailed since November, when jurors convicted him of criminal contempt for defying the 2004 court order barring him from running false ads about his book. Despite the order, Trudeau aired the infomercials at least 32,000 times, according to prosecutors.
Today, Trudeau’s attorney, Tom Kirsch, says his client is grateful that the federal judge in charge of his case didn’t follow the sentencing guidelines, which call for 20 to 25 years.
Still, “10 years in jail is a long time, and he is obviously disappointed,” says Kirsch, who says Trudeau plans to appeal the decision.
In both his books and his talk show-style infomercials, Trudeau promoted a variety of alternative therapies that doctors say have no merit.
Heather Mangieri, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a registered dietitian in Pittsburgh, says Trudeau’s diet plan in The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About involved bowel cleanses, hormone injections and restricting calories.
“It is a fad diet that gives consumers false hope when it comes to weight loss,” she says.
Scientific evidence shows that injections with the hormone HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, don’t cause weight loss or diminish hunger, as Trudeau has claimed, Mangieri says.
Trudeau also tapped into widespread interest in alternative medicine and distrust of conventional medicine and pharmaceutical companies, says Paul Offit, a physician and author of Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. Trudeau exploited Americans’ fascination with celebrity, and willingness to trust the advice of smooth-talking people on TV more than that of their own doctors.
“Kevin Trudeau is attractive, he speaks well, he’s your buddy,” Offit says. “He sells himself as the doctor of the people.”
Trudeau often described himself as a Ralph Nader-like crusader. But consumer watchdogs at the consumer group that Nader founded, Public Citizen, describe Trudeau as a crook.
“This is a scoundrel, who somehow or other had escaped the sufficient justice that should occur when someone makes false statements,” says Sidney Wolfe, senior adviser of Public Citizen Health Research Group. “He sells conspiracy theories. ... People who bought his books should get some restitution.”