Kevin Trudeau
Encyclopedia
Kevin Mark Trudeau is an American author, radio personality
, and infomercial
salesman best known for promoting alternative medicine
. A number of his television infomercials and several of his books, including Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, allege that both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
and the pharmaceutical industry value profit more highly than treatments or cures.
Trudeau's activities have been the subject of both criminal and civil action. He was convicted of larceny
and credit card fraud
in the early 1990s, and in 1998 paid a $500,000 fine for making false or misleading claims in his infomercials. In 2004, he consented to a lifetime ban on promoting products other than his books via infomercials.
In 2005, he founded the International Pool Tour
.
, the adopted son of Robert and Mary Trudeau. He attended St. Mary's High School
in Lynn, where he was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by the class of 1981.
firm, Nutrition for Life. The firm met with success until the Attorney General of Illinois charged that it was running a pyramid scheme
. Trudeau and Nutrition for Life settled cases brought by the state of Illinois, and seven other U.S. states, for US$
185,000.
Next, Trudeau produced and appeared in late-night television infomercial broadcasts throughout North America
. They promoted a range of products, including health aids, dietary supplement
s (such as coral calcium
), baldness
remedies, addiction
treatments, memory-improvement courses, reading-improvement programs, and real estate
investment
strategies. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission
took regulatory action against Trudeau, alleging that his broadcasts contained unsubstantiated claims and misrepresentations. In 1998, he was fined. In 2004, he settled a contempt-of-court action arising out of the same cases by agreeing to a settlement that included both payment of a $2 million fine and a ban on further use of infomercials to promote any product other than publications protected by U.S. Constitution's First Amendment
.
Trudeau began writing books and promoting them with infomercials. One was Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, published in 2005. The book was criticized for containing no natural cures. Trudeau said he was not able to include them because of threats by the FTC, then released an updated version of the original book.
Next, he published More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease (ISBN 0-9755995-4-2). According to Trudeau, the book contains the names of actual brand name products that will cure myriad illnesses. Trudeau's books claim that animals in the wild rarely develop degenerative conditions
like cancer
or Alzheimer's disease
and that many diseases are caused, not by viruses or bacteria, but rather by an imbalance in vital energy
. Science writer Christopher Wanjek
critiqued and rejected many of these claims in his July 25, 2006, LiveScience.com
health column.
Trudeau went on to publish The Weight-Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About and Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. His writing has been commercially successful. In September 2005, Natural Cures was listed in the New York Times
as the number-one-selling nonfiction book in the United States for 25 weeks. It has sold more than five million copies.
Trudeau launched an Internet radio
site at KTRadioNetwork.com in February 2009. The talk show
also airs on several small radio stations consisting of mostly brokered programming
.
Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, that claimed there were "all-natural" cures for a variety of diseases and recommends various forms of alternative medicine
, also claiming that these cures are suppressed by a conspiracy
of government and industry. Among his claims there are that sunscreen
, not ultraviolet
radiation, causes cancer, that antiperspirants and deodorants contain toxic levels of aluminum, that AIDS is a hoax, and that chemotherapy
is more dangerous than cancer.
The consumer protection website Quackwatch
analyzed a transcript of the infomercial used to sell the book and concluded that its claims were fraudulent and misleading. At least one claim in the book is disputed by its alleged source: The book refers to research into a "natural cure" for diabetes conducted at the University of Calgary
. A public statement issued by the university explicitly contradicts this, saying that "there have been no human studies conducted at the University of Calgary in the past 20 years on herbal remedies for diabetes." Author Rose Shapiro
wrote about the book "Now readers queuing up to complain on Amazon feedback sites about the lack of any cures in his book, saying it's just an extended advert for Trudeau's subscription-only website, 'your alternative to drugs and surgery' (lifetime membership $499).
In 2005, the New York State Consumer Protection Board issued a warning that the book contains no actual cures, merely "page after page after page of pure speculation." The board also warned of consumer complaints that the book is merely an advertisement for Trudeau's website and $71/month newsletter. The book also features a dustcover endorsement from former FDA commissioner Herbert Ley
, who had died several years before the book was published. A spokesperson for the board stated that "[t]he hypocrisy surrounding this book and its advertisements is galling because people with real illnesses are being misled... This book and its marketing machine are a cynical attempt by Mr. Trudeau to cash in on his legal troubles with the federal government." Another posting by the board stated that Trudeau was selling the information provided by those who ordered the book to junk mailers, telemarketers
, and other direct marketers
. Customers have also reported being charged the $71 per month for Trudeau's newsletter without actually having signed up for it, and reported problems with refunds. They report only being able to request a refund by long-distance toll call, in contrast to the toll-free line they could use to purchase Trudeau's product.
.'"
. The diet was criticized in 1962 by the Journal of the American Medical Association
as hazardous to human health and a waste of money. In 1976, the FTC ordered clinics and promoters of the Simeons Diet and hCG to inform prospective patients that there had not been "substantial evidence" to conclude hCG offered any benefit above that achieved on a restricted calorie diet. Clinical research trials published by the Journal of the American Medical Association
and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
have shown that hCG is ineffective as a weight-loss aid, citing "no statistically significant difference in the means of the two groups" and that hCG "does not appear to enhance the effectiveness of a rigidly imposed regimen for weight reduction."
The FTC has filed a contempt-of-court action against Trudeau alleging that the alleged misrepresentations in the book violate a 2004 consent order.
, identified as the "magic cure" in the book.
and employs the Law of Attraction as its principal wealth generator, a concept regarded by most in the scientific community as at-best pseudoscience
.
's Paula Zahn, Matt Lauer of NBC
's Today Show, and Harry Smith of CBS
's The Early Show
. Trudeau was also the subject of investigative reports done by Inside Edition
, ABC
's 20/20 and Dateline NBC
. The 20/20 segment highlighted a Nightline interview with Jake Tapper
in which Trudeau misrepresented the money he was forced to pay to the government, the charges filed against him and the reason the government did not follow-through with charges, and claiming ignorance when the claims made in his book were called false by Tapper.
During interviews, Trudeau has often said that the television program in which he is being interviewed is owned by the drug companies. In some cases Trudeau has told his supporters, via his newsletters, that he has been attacked on a particular program or by a particular interviewer.
Trudeau was a prolific producer of infomercials. He stipulated to an FTC ban applying to everything except publications that the FTC concluded would infringe upon his First Amendment
rights. All of his recent infomercials advertise his books Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About
and The Weight Loss Cure. Notable co-hosts have included Leigh Valentine
(former wife of televangelist Robert Tilton
) and the late Tammy Faye Messner Formerly: Tammy Faye Baker.
Trudeau says that natural treatments cannot be patented and are not profitable enough to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars in testing, so they will always lack FDA approval. Trudeau uses herpes as an example, saying that people with herpes must buy an expensive drug for the rest of their lives. He says that if there were a cheap, easy cure for herpes, the FDA and pharmaceutical companies would not want the population to know about it because corporate profits would suffer.
He cites the number of advertisements on television for prescription drugs and points out that prescription drugs should be advertised to doctors, not to the general public.
He states in one infomercial that there are twelve known cures for cancer but that they are being kept from the general public by the FDA, the FTC, and the pharmaceutical companies. He also says that the FDA and the FTC are two of the most corrupt organizations in America and that there is a long list of chemical ingredients that are secretly not required to be on the FDA ingredients label that are damaging to human health.
Trudeau offers a conspiracy theory
, saying that the drug industry and the FDA work with each other to effectively deceive the public by banning all-natural cures in order to protect the profits of the drug industry. Trudeau says that FDA commissioners who leave the FDA to work for large drug companies are paid millions of dollars. In any other industry, according to Trudeau, this would be called "bribery," a "conflict of interest" or "payoffs." Trudeau also says in his infomercials that the food industry includes chemicals (such as MSG
and aspartame
) to get people "addicted to food" and to "make people obese."
Trudeau has also declared that he will lead a crusade against the FDA and the FTC and will make an effort to sue companies who promote false claims in advertising, such as leading pharmaceutical companies.
articles by Candice Choi on the infomercials elaborated on the success and problems of the programs. Choi says that by repeatedly mentioning government sanctions against him, Trudeau "anticipated any backlash with his cuckoo conspiracy theory" and can partially deflect any criticism of him or his infomercials. Trudeau's use of the word "cure" is an issue for regulators. Also, bookstores are polled on their decisions to sell or not sell a successful and controversial self-published book.
and the mentally challenged to create Advanced Mega Memory and Mega Memory audio tapes. His promotion of memory-enhancing products was stopped by the intervention of the Federal Trade Commission
which alleged that the claims made by Trudeau were false and programs involved would not enable users to achieve a "photographic memory
," as the advertising claimed.
Kevin used research that Dr. Michael Van Masters did with the State School for the Blind In Muskogee Oklahoma in 1975 as the basis of where he did research. Kevin was working at a Buick dealership in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1982 when Van Masters hired and trained him in memory.
, this infomercial was found to violate the ITC
advertising rules.
In 2008, Trudeau began airing another infomercial, for a product called Firmalift, with Leigh Valentine.
and ITV Direct, a direct marketing company based in Beverly, Massachusetts
, announced that they had partnered with Trudeau to market both of his Natural Cures books. Trudeau also worked with ITV to create ITV Ventures, a new MLM group based out of ITV's home office. As of December 2006, ITV Direct has pulled all information concerning both this partnership and Trudeau's books from its corporate website; however, the infomercials have continued to run as of April 14, 2008.
Trudeau founded the International Pool Tour (IPT), with some of the largest purses and prizes given out in billiards
. The IPT was unable to pay prize money from a 2006 tournament in Reno, Nevada
, which The New York Times
reported had a crushing effect on the pool community as a whole.
conviction and has been an unsuccessful defendant in several Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) lawsuits. Trudeau has been charged several times by agencies of the United States government for making claims without evidence. In these cases Trudeau signed a consent decree
in which he did not plead guilty but did agree to stop making the claims and to pay a fine. Trudeau subsequently began to sell books, which are protected by the First Amendment
.
Trudeau was convicted of fraud
and larceny
in the early 1990s. The FTC has sued him repeatedly and keeps an extensive record of its conflicts with him. A court order currently restricts his ability to promote and sell any product or service; however, he is permitted to promote books and other publications due to free-speech protection under the First Amendment as long as they are not used to promote or sell products or services and do not contain misrepresentations. On November 19, 2007, a court found Trudeau in contempt of that court order for making what they consider deceptive claims about his book The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About. In August 2008, he was fined more than $5 million and banned from infomercials for three years for continuing to make fraudulent claims pertaining to the book. The amount of the monetary damages was later increased to $37 million.
in order to deposit $80,000 in false checks, and in 1991 he pleaded guilty to larceny
. That same year, Trudeau faced federal charges of credit card fraud
after he stole the names and Social Security numbers of eleven customers of a mega memory product and charged approximately $122,735.68 on their credit cards. He spent two years in federal prison because of this conviction. Later, in an interview, he explained his crimes as:
program, in the mid-1990s. In 1996, his recruitment practices were cited by the states of Illinois
and Michigan
, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Illinois sued Trudeau and Jules Leib, his partner, accusing them of operating an illegal pyramid scheme
. They settled with Illinois and seven other states for $185,000 after agreeing to change their tactics. Michigan forbade him from operating in the state. A class action lawsuit was filed by stockholders of Nutrition for Life for violations of Texas
law, including misrepresenting and/or omitting material information about Nutrition for Life International, Inc.'s business. In August 1997, the company paid $2 million in cash to common stockholders and holders of warrants during the class period to settle the case. The company also paid the plaintiffs' attorney fees of $600,000.
against Trudeau and some of his companies (Shop America (USA), LLC; Shop America Marketing Group, LLC; and Trustar Global Media, Limited), alleging that disease-related claims for Coral Calcium Supreme were false and unsubstantiated. In July 2003, Trudeau entered into a stipulated preliminary injunction that prohibited him from continuing to make the challenged claims for Coral Calcium Supreme and Biotape.
In the summer of 2004, the court found Trudeau in contempt of court for violating the preliminary injunction, because he had sent out a direct mail piece and produced an infomercial making prohibited claims. The court ordered Trudeau to cease all marketing for coral calcium products.
In September 2004, Trudeau agreed to pay $2 million ($500,000 in cash plus transfer of residential property located in Ojai, California, and a luxury vehicle) to settle charges that he falsely claimed that a coral calcium product can cure cancer and other serious diseases and that a purported analgesic called Biotape can permanently cure or relieve severe pain. He also agreed to a lifetime ban on promoting products using infomercials, but excluded restrictions to promote his books via infomercials. Trudeau was the only person ever banned by the FTC from selling a product via television. Lydia Parnes, speaking for the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection stated: "This ban is meant to shut down an infomercial empire that has misled American consumers for years." Trudeau claimed the government was trying to discredit his book because he was "exposing them."
seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Trudeau also filed a motion for preliminary injunction, which the court denied.
The complaint charged that the FTC had retaliated against him for his criticism of the agency by issuing a press release that falsely characterized and intentionally and deliberately misrepresented the 2004 Final Order. That conduct, Trudeau asserted, exceeded the FTC's authority under 15 U.S.C. § 46(f) and violated the First Amendment
. The FTC responded with a motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction
under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), and for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted under Rule 12(b)(6).
The district court granted the FTC's motion to dismiss. First, the court concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because the press release was not "a 'final agency action'" under “section 704 of the [Administrative Procedure Act]”, 5 U.S.C. § 704. Second, the court held, "in the alternative, that Trudeau’s claims failed to state a viable cause of action as a matter of law."
Trudeau later filed an appeal which was unsuccessful in reversing the court's ruling.
of violating his First Amendment rights by contacting television stations in New York state and urging them to pull Trudeau's infomercials promoting his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. Trudeau won a temporary restraining order on September 6, 2005 prohibiting the Board from sending letters to the television stations. The temporary restraining order was replaced by a preliminary injunction. However, Trudeau lost a motion to have the Board send a "corrective letter" to the television stations and subsequently dropped all claims for monetary damages. The case is still in litigation.
On November 19, 2007, Trudeau was found in contempt
of the 2004 court order for "patently false" claims in his weight loss book. U.S. District Court
Judge Robert W. Gettleman
ruled that Trudeau "clearly misrepresents in his advertisements the difficulty of the diet described in his book, and by doing so, he has misled thousands of consumers."
On August 7, 2008, Gettleman issued an order that Trudeau was not to appear in infomercials for any product in which he has any interest, for three years from the date of the order; and was to pay a penalty of $5,173,000, an estimate of the royalties received from the weight loss book.
On November 4, 2008, Gettleman amended the judgment to $37,616,161, the amount consumers paid in response to the deceptive infomercials. The court denied Trudeau's request to reconsider or stay this ruling on December 11 of the same year.
Trudeau appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
which upheld the contempt finding, but sent the case back to the lower court to explain the basis of the $37,616,161 damage finding and the three-year infomercial ban.. After the lower court justified the basis for the damage finding, and set a $2 million performance bond for future infomercial advertising, Trudeau again appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the damage award on November 29, 2011.
, the creator of Quackwatch.org
, "has for years labeled Trudeau a fraud" and was quoted: "He struck me as somebody who (believes he) is omnipotent. That is, no one can touch him," Barrett said. "That’s almost been the case." Trudeau appealed the ruling and on May 20 the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted his motion, dismissing the contempt citation.
. In instances where Trudeau has been asked to provide proof of his claims, he has misinterpreted medical studies or cited dubious or fictitious studies. For example, Trudeau cited a nonexistent 25-year research study involving a natural cure for diabetes at the University of Calgary
. When Tapper confronted him on Nightline, Trudeau insisted that he had a copy of the study and would provide it, which he never did. He now claims on his infomercials that the university destroyed its findings to prevent reprisals from the pharmaceutical industry.
The back cover includes the following quote from Dr. Herbert Ley, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who died three years before the book was written: "The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is doing and what people think it's doing are as different as night and day." Trudeau's lawyer, David J. Bradford, says that this quote does not constitute a false endorsement of his book by Ley but rather is merely a statement that is in line with the purpose of his book.
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
, and infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
salesman best known for promoting alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
. A number of his television infomercials and several of his books, including Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, allege that both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
and the pharmaceutical industry value profit more highly than treatments or cures.
Trudeau's activities have been the subject of both criminal and civil action. He was convicted of larceny
Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...
and credit card fraud
Credit card fraud
Credit card fraud is a wide-ranging term for theft and fraud committed using a credit card or any similar payment mechanism as a fraudulent source of funds in a transaction. The purpose may be to obtain goods without paying, or to obtain unauthorized funds from an account. Credit card fraud is also...
in the early 1990s, and in 1998 paid a $500,000 fine for making false or misleading claims in his infomercials. In 2004, he consented to a lifetime ban on promoting products other than his books via infomercials.
In 2005, he founded the International Pool Tour
International Pool Tour
The International Pool Tour is a professional sports tour created in 2005 by Kevin Trudeau and hosted by Rebecca Grant. It aims to elevate pool to the level of other modern sports. Closely modeled on the PGA Tour, the IPT offered the largest prize funds in pool history in its first year. The tour...
.
Early life
Trudeau grew up in Lynn, MassachusettsLynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
, the adopted son of Robert and Mary Trudeau. He attended St. Mary's High School
St. Mary's High School (Lynn, Massachusetts)
St. Mary's High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Lynn, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.-Background:...
in Lynn, where he was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by the class of 1981.
Career
After being incarcerated for fraud in the early 1990s, Trudeau joined a multi-level marketingMulti-level marketing
Multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation...
firm, Nutrition for Life. The firm met with success until the Attorney General of Illinois charged that it was running a pyramid scheme
Pyramid scheme
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public...
. Trudeau and Nutrition for Life settled cases brought by the state of Illinois, and seven other U.S. states, for US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
185,000.
Next, Trudeau produced and appeared in late-night television infomercial broadcasts throughout North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. They promoted a range of products, including health aids, dietary supplement
Dietary supplement
A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...
s (such as coral calcium
Coral calcium
Coral calcium is a salt of calcium derived from fossilized coral reefs.- Chemistry :Coral calcium is composed primarily of calcium carbonate , with small amounts of magnesium and other trace minerals...
), baldness
Baldness
Baldness implies partial or complete lack of hair and can be understood as part of the wider topic of "hair thinning". The degree and pattern of baldness can vary greatly, but its most common cause is male and female pattern baldness, also known as androgenic alopecia, alopecia androgenetica or...
remedies, addiction
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
treatments, memory-improvement courses, reading-improvement programs, and real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
strategies. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
took regulatory action against Trudeau, alleging that his broadcasts contained unsubstantiated claims and misrepresentations. In 1998, he was fined. In 2004, he settled a contempt-of-court action arising out of the same cases by agreeing to a settlement that included both payment of a $2 million fine and a ban on further use of infomercials to promote any product other than publications protected by U.S. Constitution's First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
.
Trudeau began writing books and promoting them with infomercials. One was Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, published in 2005. The book was criticized for containing no natural cures. Trudeau said he was not able to include them because of threats by the FTC, then released an updated version of the original book.
Next, he published More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease (ISBN 0-9755995-4-2). According to Trudeau, the book contains the names of actual brand name products that will cure myriad illnesses. Trudeau's books claim that animals in the wild rarely develop degenerative conditions
Degenerative disease
A degenerative disease, also called neurodegenerative disease, is a disease in which the function or structure of the affected tissues or organs will progressively deteriorate over time, whether due to normal bodily wear or lifestyle choices such as exercise or eating habits...
like cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
or Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
and that many diseases are caused, not by viruses or bacteria, but rather by an imbalance in vital energy
Vitalism
Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions...
. Science writer Christopher Wanjek
Christopher Wanjek
Christopher Wanjek is a health and science journalist and author based in the United States. He received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Temple University and his master's degree from the Harvard School of Public Health....
critiqued and rejected many of these claims in his July 25, 2006, LiveScience.com
LiveScience
LiveScience is a science news website run by TechMediaNetwork, who purchased it from Imaginova in 2009. Stories and editorial commentary are commonly syndicated to major news outlets, such as Yahoo!, MSNBC, AOL, and Fox News....
health column.
Trudeau went on to publish The Weight-Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About and Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. His writing has been commercially successful. In September 2005, Natural Cures was listed in the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as the number-one-selling nonfiction book in the United States for 25 weeks. It has sold more than five million copies.
Trudeau launched an Internet radio
Internet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
site at KTRadioNetwork.com in February 2009. The talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
also airs on several small radio stations consisting of mostly brokered programming
Brokered programming
Brokered programming is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot commercials...
.
Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About
In 2004, Trudeau self-publishedVanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher is a term describing a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense. Publisher Johnathon Clifford claims to have coined the term in 1959. However, the term appears in mainstream U.S...
Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, that claimed there were "all-natural" cures for a variety of diseases and recommends various forms of alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
, also claiming that these cures are suppressed by a conspiracy
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
of government and industry. Among his claims there are that sunscreen
Sunscreen
Sunblock is a lotion, spray, gel or other topical product that absorbs or reflects some of the sun's ultraviolet radiation on the skin exposed to sunlight and thus helps protect against sunburn...
, not ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...
radiation, causes cancer, that antiperspirants and deodorants contain toxic levels of aluminum, that AIDS is a hoax, and that chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
is more dangerous than cancer.
The consumer protection website Quackwatch
Quackwatch
Quackwatch is an American non-profit organization founded by Stephen Barrett with the stated aim being to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and with a primary focus on providing "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere."...
analyzed a transcript of the infomercial used to sell the book and concluded that its claims were fraudulent and misleading. At least one claim in the book is disputed by its alleged source: The book refers to research into a "natural cure" for diabetes conducted at the University of Calgary
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
. A public statement issued by the university explicitly contradicts this, saying that "there have been no human studies conducted at the University of Calgary in the past 20 years on herbal remedies for diabetes." Author Rose Shapiro
Rose Shapiro
Rose Shapiro is a British author from Bristol. She wrote Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All and contributes regularly to several publications including; The Independent, The Observer, The Guardian, Time Out, Good Housekeeping and the Health Service Journal.-Books:Suckers: How...
wrote about the book "Now readers queuing up to complain on Amazon feedback sites about the lack of any cures in his book, saying it's just an extended advert for Trudeau's subscription-only website, 'your alternative to drugs and surgery' (lifetime membership $499).
In 2005, the New York State Consumer Protection Board issued a warning that the book contains no actual cures, merely "page after page after page of pure speculation." The board also warned of consumer complaints that the book is merely an advertisement for Trudeau's website and $71/month newsletter. The book also features a dustcover endorsement from former FDA commissioner Herbert Ley
Herbert Ley, Jr.
Herbert Leonard Ley, Jr. was an American physician and government official.-Biography:He attended Harvard College from 1941-1943, and returned there after World War II, where he received his M.D. degree, cum laude, in 1946. In 1951, he earned an Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard...
, who had died several years before the book was published. A spokesperson for the board stated that "[t]he hypocrisy surrounding this book and its advertisements is galling because people with real illnesses are being misled... This book and its marketing machine are a cynical attempt by Mr. Trudeau to cash in on his legal troubles with the federal government." Another posting by the board stated that Trudeau was selling the information provided by those who ordered the book to junk mailers, telemarketers
Telemarketing
Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call.Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches...
, and other direct marketers
Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
. Customers have also reported being charged the $71 per month for Trudeau's newsletter without actually having signed up for it, and reported problems with refunds. They report only being able to request a refund by long-distance toll call, in contrast to the toll-free line they could use to purchase Trudeau's product.
More Natural “Cures” Revealed
In May 2006, Trudeau self-published More Natural "Cures" Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease. This book responds to complaints that its earlier version did not actually contain any cures and points consumers to Trudeau's subscription-only website. In More Natural "Cures" Revealed, Trudeau writes that workers at the FDA and FTC want to censor him and, figuratively, burn his books. One review described it as "a fascinating cross between a health book, fictitious novel, and a paranoid, hate-filled rant along the lines of 'Mein KampfMein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
.'"
The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don't Want You to Know About
In April 2007, Trudeau released The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About. The book describes a weight loss plan originally made by British endocrinologist ATW Simeons in the 1950s involving injections of human chorionic gonadotropinHuman chorionic gonadotropin
Human chorionic gonadotropin or human chorionic gonadotrophin is a glycoprotein hormone produced during pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo after conception and later by the syncytiotrophoblast .. Some tumors make this hormone; measured elevated levels when the patient is not...
. The diet was criticized in 1962 by the Journal of the American Medical Association
Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association is a weekly, peer-reviewed, medical journal, published by the American Medical Association. Beginning in July 2011, the editor in chief will be Howard C. Bauchner, vice chairman of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, replacing ...
as hazardous to human health and a waste of money. In 1976, the FTC ordered clinics and promoters of the Simeons Diet and hCG to inform prospective patients that there had not been "substantial evidence" to conclude hCG offered any benefit above that achieved on a restricted calorie diet. Clinical research trials published by the Journal of the American Medical Association
Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association is a weekly, peer-reviewed, medical journal, published by the American Medical Association. Beginning in July 2011, the editor in chief will be Howard C. Bauchner, vice chairman of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, replacing ...
and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal in the field of clinical nutrition.According to the Journal Citation Reports, it has a 2009 impact factor of 6.307, ranking it third among 66 journals in the category "Nutrition & Dietetics".The journal was...
have shown that hCG is ineffective as a weight-loss aid, citing "no statistically significant difference in the means of the two groups" and that hCG "does not appear to enhance the effectiveness of a rigidly imposed regimen for weight reduction."
The FTC has filed a contempt-of-court action against Trudeau alleging that the alleged misrepresentations in the book violate a 2004 consent order.
Debt Cures “They” Don't Want You to Know About
Debt Cures was published in 2007 and has been marketed on television. Chuck Jaffee, a columnist at CBS MarketWatch, stated: "Truth be told, most of the information [in the book] is readily available in personal finance columns you can find online or in books that are readily available in your local library." Trudeau says that if readers disagree with items on their credit reports, they can dispute them as identity theftIdentity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
, identified as the "magic cure" in the book.
The Money-Making Secrets “They” Don't Want You to Know About
Published in 2009, the book says it gives tools on how to use the Law of Attraction to manifest readers' desires. The book also says it contains key links to using the Law of Attraction that are missing in other publications. Among the claims made in the book's infomercial is Trudeau's assertion to have virtually flunked out of high school. He also says he was "taken in" by a mysterious group called "The Brotherhood" that taught him the secrets that he is now widely announcing in his book. There is also an invitation at the conclusion of the series to join a "Global Information Network," claimed to be an exclusive group of "highly influential, affluent, and freedom-orientated people from various business, social and economic sectors" who offer advice to its members. The group operates out of the country of NevisNevis
Nevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. The 93 km² island is part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies...
and employs the Law of Attraction as its principal wealth generator, a concept regarded by most in the scientific community as at-best pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
.
Your Wish Is Your Command
The Your Wish Is Your Command series claims to be an audio recording of a private two-day lecture which takes place at an undisclosed location in the Swiss Alps. The CD set claims to offer a "hidden key" to take complete control of one's life and learn how to manifest one's every personal and financial wishes. Trudeau claims the knowledge unveiled here will "program your brain to be a transmitter pulling into your life every desire you have."Media interviews
Trudeau has been interviewed by CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Paula Zahn, Matt Lauer of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Today Show, and Harry Smith of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
. Trudeau was also the subject of investigative reports done by Inside Edition
Inside Edition
Inside Edition is a thirty-minute American television syndicated news program, first aired on CBS on October 9, 1988. It was originally similar to the programs Hard Copy and A Current Affair, but now more closely resembles a condensed version of breakfast television, exclusively with pre-recorded...
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's 20/20 and Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
. The 20/20 segment highlighted a Nightline interview with Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper
Jacob Paul "Jake" Tapper is an American print and television journalist, currently the senior White House correspondent for ABC News in Washington, D.C...
in which Trudeau misrepresented the money he was forced to pay to the government, the charges filed against him and the reason the government did not follow-through with charges, and claiming ignorance when the claims made in his book were called false by Tapper.
During interviews, Trudeau has often said that the television program in which he is being interviewed is owned by the drug companies. In some cases Trudeau has told his supporters, via his newsletters, that he has been attacked on a particular program or by a particular interviewer.
Infomercials
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
rights. All of his recent infomercials advertise his books Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About
and The Weight Loss Cure. Notable co-hosts have included Leigh Valentine
Leigh Valentine
Leigh Ann Middleton Valentine is an entrepreneur, author and TV personality in her own right. Valentine appears regularly on QVC.-Early life, education.:...
(former wife of televangelist Robert Tilton
Robert Tilton
Robert Tilton is an American televangelist who achieved notoriety in the 1980s and early 1990s through his infomercial-styled religious television program Success-N-Life, which at its peak in 1991 aired in all 235 American TV markets , brought in nearly $80 million per year, and was described as...
) and the late Tammy Faye Messner Formerly: Tammy Faye Baker.
Pharmaceutical companies
Trudeau says that pharmaceutical companies "don't want us to get well" because curing disease is not nearly as profitable as treating it in perpetuity. According to Trudeau, the corporate profit motive overrides the human desire to truly help people.Trudeau says that natural treatments cannot be patented and are not profitable enough to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars in testing, so they will always lack FDA approval. Trudeau uses herpes as an example, saying that people with herpes must buy an expensive drug for the rest of their lives. He says that if there were a cheap, easy cure for herpes, the FDA and pharmaceutical companies would not want the population to know about it because corporate profits would suffer.
He cites the number of advertisements on television for prescription drugs and points out that prescription drugs should be advertised to doctors, not to the general public.
He states in one infomercial that there are twelve known cures for cancer but that they are being kept from the general public by the FDA, the FTC, and the pharmaceutical companies. He also says that the FDA and the FTC are two of the most corrupt organizations in America and that there is a long list of chemical ingredients that are secretly not required to be on the FDA ingredients label that are damaging to human health.
Trudeau offers a conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
, saying that the drug industry and the FDA work with each other to effectively deceive the public by banning all-natural cures in order to protect the profits of the drug industry. Trudeau says that FDA commissioners who leave the FDA to work for large drug companies are paid millions of dollars. In any other industry, according to Trudeau, this would be called "bribery," a "conflict of interest" or "payoffs." Trudeau also says in his infomercials that the food industry includes chemicals (such as MSG
Monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate, also known as sodium glutamate or MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, one of the most abundant naturally occurring non-essential amino acids....
and aspartame
Aspartame
Aspartame is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and beverages. In the European Union, it is codified as E951. Aspartame is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. It was first sold under the brand name NutraSweet; since 2009 it...
) to get people "addicted to food" and to "make people obese."
Trudeau has also declared that he will lead a crusade against the FDA and the FTC and will make an effort to sue companies who promote false claims in advertising, such as leading pharmaceutical companies.
Newspaper articles
A pair of 2005 Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
articles by Candice Choi on the infomercials elaborated on the success and problems of the programs. Choi says that by repeatedly mentioning government sanctions against him, Trudeau "anticipated any backlash with his cuckoo conspiracy theory" and can partially deflect any criticism of him or his infomercials. Trudeau's use of the word "cure" is an issue for regulators. Also, bookstores are polled on their decisions to sell or not sell a successful and controversial self-published book.
Audio tapes: “Mega Memory”
Trudeau says he adapted techniques used to improve the memory of the blindBlindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
and the mentally challenged to create Advanced Mega Memory and Mega Memory audio tapes. His promotion of memory-enhancing products was stopped by the intervention of the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
which alleged that the claims made by Trudeau were false and programs involved would not enable users to achieve a "photographic memory
Eidetic memory
Eidetic , commonly referred to as photographic memory, is a medical term, popularly defined as the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme precision and in abundant volume. The word eidetic, referring to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall not limited to, but...
," as the advertising claimed.
Kevin used research that Dr. Michael Van Masters did with the State School for the Blind In Muskogee Oklahoma in 1975 as the basis of where he did research. Kevin was working at a Buick dealership in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1982 when Van Masters hired and trained him in memory.
Non-surgical face lift
In addition to Natural Cures, Trudeau also hosted an infomercial that features the "Perfect Lift" non-surgical face lift. In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, this infomercial was found to violate the ITC
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
advertising rules.
In 2008, Trudeau began airing another infomercial, for a product called Firmalift, with Leigh Valentine.
Trudeau partners with Donald Barrett and ITV Direct
On September 11, 2006, Donald BarrettDonald Barrett
Donald Barrett is the founder and president of ITV Direct, an infomercial company producing infomercials for broadcast in the United States. Almost all are related to health and nutrition, or in the company's words, "products that positively impact people". He has also promoted Lorraine Day, and...
and ITV Direct, a direct marketing company based in Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 39,343 on , which differs by no more than several hundred from the 39,862 obtained in the 2000 census. A resort, residential and manufacturing community on the North Shore, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides...
, announced that they had partnered with Trudeau to market both of his Natural Cures books. Trudeau also worked with ITV to create ITV Ventures, a new MLM group based out of ITV's home office. As of December 2006, ITV Direct has pulled all information concerning both this partnership and Trudeau's books from its corporate website; however, the infomercials have continued to run as of April 14, 2008.
International Pool Tour
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
. The IPT was unable to pay prize money from a 2006 tournament in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, which The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported had a crushing effect on the pool community as a whole.
Legal proceedings
In connection with his promotional activities he has had a felonyFelony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
conviction and has been an unsuccessful defendant in several Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
(FTC) lawsuits. Trudeau has been charged several times by agencies of the United States government for making claims without evidence. In these cases Trudeau signed a consent decree
Consent decree
A consent decree is a final, binding judicial decree or judgment memorializing a voluntary agreement between parties to a suit in return for withdrawal of a criminal charge or an end to a civil litigation...
in which he did not plead guilty but did agree to stop making the claims and to pay a fine. Trudeau subsequently began to sell books, which are protected by the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
.
Trudeau was convicted of fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
and larceny
Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...
in the early 1990s. The FTC has sued him repeatedly and keeps an extensive record of its conflicts with him. A court order currently restricts his ability to promote and sell any product or service; however, he is permitted to promote books and other publications due to free-speech protection under the First Amendment as long as they are not used to promote or sell products or services and do not contain misrepresentations. On November 19, 2007, a court found Trudeau in contempt of that court order for making what they consider deceptive claims about his book The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About. In August 2008, he was fined more than $5 million and banned from infomercials for three years for continuing to make fraudulent claims pertaining to the book. The amount of the monetary damages was later increased to $37 million.
1990-1991: Larceny and credit card fraud
In 1990, Trudeau posed as a doctorPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in order to deposit $80,000 in false checks, and in 1991 he pleaded guilty to larceny
Larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the wrongful acquisition of the personal property of another person. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of England into their own law. It has been abolished in England and Wales,...
. That same year, Trudeau faced federal charges of credit card fraud
Credit card fraud
Credit card fraud is a wide-ranging term for theft and fraud committed using a credit card or any similar payment mechanism as a fraudulent source of funds in a transaction. The purpose may be to obtain goods without paying, or to obtain unauthorized funds from an account. Credit card fraud is also...
after he stole the names and Social Security numbers of eleven customers of a mega memory product and charged approximately $122,735.68 on their credit cards. He spent two years in federal prison because of this conviction. Later, in an interview, he explained his crimes as:
"... youthful indiscretions and not as bad as they sound, and besides, both were partly the fault of other people, and besides, he has changed. The larceny he explains as a series of math errors compounded by the 'mistake' of a bank official. As for why the bank thought he was a doctor, that was just a simple misunderstanding, because he jokingly referred to himself as a 'doctor in memory'. He still can't quite believe he was prosecuted for the larceny charges. 'Give me a break,' he says."
1996: SEC and various states
Trudeau began working for Nutrition For Life, a multi-level marketingMulti-level marketing
Multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation...
program, in the mid-1990s. In 1996, his recruitment practices were cited by the states of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Illinois sued Trudeau and Jules Leib, his partner, accusing them of operating an illegal pyramid scheme
Pyramid scheme
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public...
. They settled with Illinois and seven other states for $185,000 after agreeing to change their tactics. Michigan forbade him from operating in the state. A class action lawsuit was filed by stockholders of Nutrition for Life for violations of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
law, including misrepresenting and/or omitting material information about Nutrition for Life International, Inc.'s business. In August 1997, the company paid $2 million in cash to common stockholders and holders of warrants during the class period to settle the case. The company also paid the plaintiffs' attorney fees of $600,000.
1998: FTC fine
In 1998, Trudeau was fined $500,000, the funds to be used for consumer redress by the FTC, relating to six infomercials he had produced and in which the FTC determined he had made false or misleading claims. These infomercials included "Hair Farming," "Mega Memory System," "Addiction Breaking System," "Action Reading," "Eden's Secret," and "Mega Reading." The products included a "hair farming system" that was supposed to "finally end baldness in the human race," and "a breakthrough that in 60 seconds can eliminate" addictions, discovered when a certain "Dr. Callahan" was "studying quantum physics."2004: FTC contempt of court and injunction
In June 2003, the FTC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of IllinoisUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois is the trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois....
against Trudeau and some of his companies (Shop America (USA), LLC; Shop America Marketing Group, LLC; and Trustar Global Media, Limited), alleging that disease-related claims for Coral Calcium Supreme were false and unsubstantiated. In July 2003, Trudeau entered into a stipulated preliminary injunction that prohibited him from continuing to make the challenged claims for Coral Calcium Supreme and Biotape.
In the summer of 2004, the court found Trudeau in contempt of court for violating the preliminary injunction, because he had sent out a direct mail piece and produced an infomercial making prohibited claims. The court ordered Trudeau to cease all marketing for coral calcium products.
In September 2004, Trudeau agreed to pay $2 million ($500,000 in cash plus transfer of residential property located in Ojai, California, and a luxury vehicle) to settle charges that he falsely claimed that a coral calcium product can cure cancer and other serious diseases and that a purported analgesic called Biotape can permanently cure or relieve severe pain. He also agreed to a lifetime ban on promoting products using infomercials, but excluded restrictions to promote his books via infomercials. Trudeau was the only person ever banned by the FTC from selling a product via television. Lydia Parnes, speaking for the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection stated: "This ban is meant to shut down an infomercial empire that has misled American consumers for years." Trudeau claimed the government was trying to discredit his book because he was "exposing them."
2005: Trudeau v. FTC
On February 28, 2005, Trudeau filed a complaint against the FTC in the U.S. District Court for the District of ColumbiaUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia is a federal district court. Appeals from the District are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a...
seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Trudeau also filed a motion for preliminary injunction, which the court denied.
The complaint charged that the FTC had retaliated against him for his criticism of the agency by issuing a press release that falsely characterized and intentionally and deliberately misrepresented the 2004 Final Order. That conduct, Trudeau asserted, exceeded the FTC's authority under 15 U.S.C. § 46(f) and violated the First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
. The FTC responded with a motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction
Subject-matter jurisdiction
Subject-matter jurisdiction is the authority of a court to hear cases of a particular type or cases relating to a specific subject matter. For instance, bankruptcy court only has the authority to hear bankruptcy cases....
under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), and for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted under Rule 12(b)(6).
The district court granted the FTC's motion to dismiss. First, the court concluded that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction because the press release was not "a 'final agency action'" under “section 704 of the [Administrative Procedure Act]”, 5 U.S.C. § 704. Second, the court held, "in the alternative, that Trudeau’s claims failed to state a viable cause of action as a matter of law."
Trudeau later filed an appeal which was unsuccessful in reversing the court's ruling.
2005: Trudeau v. New York Consumer Protection Board
Trudeau filed a lawsuit on August 11, 2005, accusing the New York State Consumer Protection BoardNew York State Consumer Protection Board
The New York State Consumer Protection Board is a government agency of the State of New York that is responsible to "protect, educate and represent consumers". , the Chairperson and Executive Director of the Consumer Protection Board is Mindy A...
of violating his First Amendment rights by contacting television stations in New York state and urging them to pull Trudeau's infomercials promoting his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. Trudeau won a temporary restraining order on September 6, 2005 prohibiting the Board from sending letters to the television stations. The temporary restraining order was replaced by a preliminary injunction. However, Trudeau lost a motion to have the Board send a "corrective letter" to the television stations and subsequently dropped all claims for monetary damages. The case is still in litigation.
2007: FTC contempt of court action
The FTC filed a contempt of court action against Trudeau and the companies that market The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About, alleging that Trudeau was in contempt of a 2004 court order by "deceptively claiming in his infomercials that the book being advertised establishes a weight-loss protocol that is 'easy' to follow." The action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on September 17, 2007. According to an FTC press release, Trudeau has claimed that the weight loss plan outlined in the book is easy, can be done at home, and readers can eat anything they want. When consumers buy the book, they find it describes a complex plan that requires intense dieting, daily injections of a prescribed drug that is not easily obtainable, and lifelong dietary restrictions.On November 19, 2007, Trudeau was found in contempt
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
of the 2004 court order for "patently false" claims in his weight loss book. U.S. District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
Judge Robert W. Gettleman
Robert William Gettleman
- Early life and education :Gettleman was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey and moved with his family to Miami, Florida at a young age. Gettleman received a B.S./B.A. from Boston University in 1965. He received a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1968. He was a Staff law clerk,...
ruled that Trudeau "clearly misrepresents in his advertisements the difficulty of the diet described in his book, and by doing so, he has misled thousands of consumers."
On August 7, 2008, Gettleman issued an order that Trudeau was not to appear in infomercials for any product in which he has any interest, for three years from the date of the order; and was to pay a penalty of $5,173,000, an estimate of the royalties received from the weight loss book.
On November 4, 2008, Gettleman amended the judgment to $37,616,161, the amount consumers paid in response to the deceptive infomercials. The court denied Trudeau's request to reconsider or stay this ruling on December 11 of the same year.
Trudeau appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:* Central District of Illinois* Northern District of Illinois...
which upheld the contempt finding, but sent the case back to the lower court to explain the basis of the $37,616,161 damage finding and the three-year infomercial ban.. After the lower court justified the basis for the damage finding, and set a $2 million performance bond for future infomercial advertising, Trudeau again appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the damage award on November 29, 2011.
2010: Arrest on criminal contempt of court charge
On February 11, 2010, Trudeau was arrested and appeared in U.S. District Court before Gettleman for criminal contempt of court after he "asked his supporters to email the federal judge overseeing a pending civil case brought against him by the Federal Trade Commission." He was forced to turn over his passport, pay a $50,000 bond and was warned he could face future prison time for interfering with the direct process of the court. On February 17, Gettleman sentenced Trudeau to 30 days in jail and forfeiture of the $50,000 bond. Well-known critic of Trudeau, Stephen BarrettStephen Barrett
Stephen Joel Barrett is a retired American psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud , and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health fraud. He focuses on consumer protection, medical ethics, and scientific...
, the creator of Quackwatch.org
Quackwatch
Quackwatch is an American non-profit organization founded by Stephen Barrett with the stated aim being to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and with a primary focus on providing "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere."...
, "has for years labeled Trudeau a fraud" and was quoted: "He struck me as somebody who (believes he) is omnipotent. That is, no one can touch him," Barrett said. "That’s almost been the case." Trudeau appealed the ruling and on May 20 the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted his motion, dismissing the contempt citation.
Medical experience
One common criticism by consumer groups is that Trudeau has had no medical training. Trudeau responds that by not having such training, he is not biased toward pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, and that medical doctors "are taught only how to write out prescriptions" for "poisons" and "cut out pieces of a person's anatomy."Unsubstantiated claims
Trudeau has been criticized for his inability to provide substantial evidence to back up many of his claims. Although he provides anecdotal evidence, he has not provided evidence that such customer claims have been evaluated by a licensed medical practitionerPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. In instances where Trudeau has been asked to provide proof of his claims, he has misinterpreted medical studies or cited dubious or fictitious studies. For example, Trudeau cited a nonexistent 25-year research study involving a natural cure for diabetes at the University of Calgary
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
. When Tapper confronted him on Nightline, Trudeau insisted that he had a copy of the study and would provide it, which he never did. He now claims on his infomercials that the university destroyed its findings to prevent reprisals from the pharmaceutical industry.
False endorsements
In August 2005, the New York Consumer Protection Board warned consumers that Trudeau has used false claims of endorsements to promote his products, noting that the back cover of Natural Cures includes false endorsements. Further, the NYCPB states that Trudeau's television ads “give the false impression that Tammy Faye Messner opposes chemotherapy in favor of the ‘natural cures’ in Trudeau’s book.” A representative for Messner before her death from cancer said that was not true and that she was starting chemotherapy again.The back cover includes the following quote from Dr. Herbert Ley, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who died three years before the book was written: "The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is doing and what people think it's doing are as different as night and day." Trudeau's lawyer, David J. Bradford, says that this quote does not constitute a false endorsement of his book by Ley but rather is merely a statement that is in line with the purpose of his book.
Footnotes
- Natural scams "he" doesn't want you to know about – Michael ShermerMichael ShermerMichael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
, Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
, March 2006 - After Jail and More, Salesman Scores Big with Cure-All Book – New York Times, August 28, 2005
- Critique of Health Claims re Coral Calcium
- Would You Buy A Used Cure From This Man? – The Smoking GunThe Smoking GunThe Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is damning, shocking, outrageous, or amazing, yet also somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources...
, August 26, 2005 - Consumer Affairs article
External links
- Kevin Trudeau at the Notable Names Database