Thursday, November 17, 2022
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A man described as a Chicago huckster, fraudster and ex-con is back in legal trouble, just months after being released from federal prison.
Federal authorities said they are still uncertain the true amount of dough that this Chicago weight-loss infomercial king actually has and they want him locked up again because he still owes so many millions to the government.
However, Kevin Trudeau remains free while a U.S. judge orders him to come up with some financial answers.
"Where are you going," Trudeau yelled as his hired car seemed to veer away this afternoon outside the Dirksen Federal courthouse Thursday.
Trudeau isn't going anywhere after a federal judge ordered him to remain in the Chicago area, even though he wants to travel globally for business.
Trudeau is still on probation after serving eight years of a 10-year sentence for criminal contempt after continuing to make deceptive weight-loss claims in his infomercials.
The Federal Trade Commission had asked Judge Robert Gettleman to lock up Trudeau. FTC attorneys cited that there is $30 million of Trudeau's money that is allegedly unaccounted for, even as they say the convicted fraudster still owes a portion of a $37 million federal judgment, despite Trudeau's claims he's all paid up.
Trudeau's ex-wife, Natasha Babenko, has voluntarily turned over documents to the FTC from their Oak Brook mansion and from Zurich, Switzerland, that she claims provides new information about where Trudeau has assets overseas.
She was deposed by FTC attorneys who said she told them that when she traveled to Trudeau's home in Zurich, she saw gold bars and massive amounts of jewelry.
RELATED: Kevin Trudeau, an unlikely pauper
When he was living the very high life, Chicago's weight-loss infomercial king didn't have to worry about hailing a ride-share because he had his own Bentley.
Judge Gettleman has other questions for Trudeau, notably, why he didn't report to the judge when he was released from prison this year.
Trudeau is due back in court a week from Wednesday and has an FTC deposition December 9.
Who is Kevin Trudeau: Chicago's weight-loss infomercial king back in legal trouble months after released from federal prison - ABC7 Chicago
Judge finds convicted TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau in contempt for failing to report to court
Sham diet book author Kevin Trudeau won’t face jail for now, but U.S. authorities demand that he start paying down a $37 million fine.
By Andy Grimm
Jan 26, 2023, 9:19pm EST
TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau avoided a return to the federal lockup Thursday for skipping a court date, but whether the fraudster remains free may just be a matter of time — and money.
Near the start of a daylong hearing at the Dirksen Federal Building, Judge Robert Gettleman found Trudeau in contempt for failing to report to court in the spring of 2022 after he ended his time in a halfway house after serving eight years in prison on a previous contempt conviction.
The judge said he would decide later whether to have Trudeau locked up or impose a fine on top of the $37.6 million he was ordered to pay in 2013 for defrauding people who bought his sham diet book, “The Weight-Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.”
For the remainder of the six-hour hearing, Trudeau’s lawyers and government attorneys argued over whether Trudeau should go to jail for failing to pay down the millions he still owes on the diet book judgment.
Trudeau made no payments while he was incarcerated, but he put up $1.86 million in recent weeks, the judge said, noting that money came from “gifts” of as much as $50,000 each from members of Trudeau’s “fan club.”
“It’s a lot of money,” Gettleman said. “If it was legitimately raised and not … just from assets that he controls — [because] that would be a real problem— then it does indicate he can contribute to the judgement.”
Federal Trade Commission lawyer Jonathan Cohen was not persuaded.
“He’s just paying us other people’s money,” Cohen said, noting that Trudeau claimed nearly $1 million in salary and bonuses from several businesses, and that “fan club” funds are also financing Trudeau’s legal defense and other expenses.
Trudeau has probably been lying about his assets to the court for a decade or more, Cohen said, noting that a court-appointed receiver charged with assessing Trudeau’s wealth in 2013 could not account for at least $30 million.
Cohen briefly called Trudeau’s ex-wife, Natasha Babenko, to testify about gold bars that Trudeau kept in home safes and safe deposit boxes at banks in downtown Chicago and Zurich, Switzerland.
Trudeau has testified in depositions that the gold belonged to his ex-wife, but Babenko said Thursday that although Trudeau had put safe deposit boxes in her name, she never had access to them.
The first time she had ever seen a gold bar, Babenko said, was when a TSA agent searched Trudeau’s carry-on bag at O’Hare Airport. In the years that followed, she saw Trudeau handling them often at their home in Oak Brook, and once saw him put a box of gold bars into a duffel bag before a spur-of-the moment trip to Guatemala.
“I would see [gold bars] next to the jewelry, see him taking them in and out of the safe,” she said. “It was a very common thing to see, like him smoking a cigar every day.”
From the few million dollars in assets identified by the receiver, the FTC has twice made payouts to around 600,000 people who bought copies of Trudeau’s book, Cohen said, but the checks totaled around $25.
In addition to the $1.85 million Trudeau had raised from his fan club, his lawyer, Giel Stein, said that Trudeau has been making money by organizing and speaking at events, and he could pay back his victims sooner if he were able to travel outside the state.
Trudeau on Thursday agreed to empty his bank accounts of about $200,000, but Stein noted that the pitchman needs considerable income to be able to put on events, pay his taxes and maintain his signature lifestyle.
“The court has now $1.85 million reasons to believe he can [pay] and will continue to do so,” Stein said. “He can raise money by being Mr. Trudeau ... because that’s what people like and they’ll pay for.”
Trudeau will return to court in March for another hearing to determine his assets.
Judge finds convicted TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau in contempt for failing to report to court - Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)
Kevin Trudeau's ex-wife tells judge he had gold bars (chicagotribune.com)
No return to jail— for now— for TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau
Federal judge rules author of ‘Weight Loss Secrets “They” Don’t Want You To Know’ can remain free, and working, to pay off $37 million judgment.
By Andy Grimm
Jun 1, 2023, 9:19pm EST
Over the last two decades, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman has thrown TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau in a federal lockup twice in a quest to get the onetime infomercial king to pay off $37 million to consumers who bought his sham diet book.
On Thursday, the judge opted to let Trudeau remain free, and even considered letting him travel outside the country, to keep earning the millions he still needs to pay off his debt.
After a daylong hearing, one in a series of court sessions that have spanned months as the judge sought to figure out if Trudeau was shielding assets in off-shore accounts or hiding gold bars in Swiss vaults, Gettleman ruled that he could have again sent Trudeau back to jail — but wouldn’t. For now.
“The intention is to get to the bottom of all this and get the judgment paid off ... and I don’t think that’s furthered by incarcerating Mr. Trudeau,” said Gettleman, who has presided over Trudeau’s case since the late 1990s. “If it doesn’t work or if I have problems, then I’m going right back to the other option that I’m avoiding here today.”
Gettleman had considered throwing Trudeau in prison in 2014 — already having locked him up for brief stints twice in 2013 — when Trudeau began serving an eight-year sentence in federal prison in an unrelated case.
Gettleman noted that he could have jailed Trudeau for contempt earlier this year, after Trudeau failed to tell the judge that he had been released.
To settle the debt, the judge ordered Trudeau to pay 75% of his after-tax earnings from his work as an employee for Global Information Network Unite, a successor company to the one a court-appointed receiver sold off to Trudeau’s business associates before he went to prison. He must also forfeit all of his earnings from side deals, such as a proposed endorsement agreement with a natural cures company — if such a deal doesn’t defy a court order barring Trudeau from making health-related claims about consumer products.
Lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission have long maintained that Trudeau has never given a full accounting of the assets he retained from the roughly $515 million he collected from sales of books, videos and other products from the 1990s onward, and said Thursday that after numerous days in court and multiple depositions, private investigations and the work of a court-appointed receiver, Trudeau still had not proved that he didn’t have access to hidden wealth.
Prior to landing in court late last year, the only money put toward Trudeau’s debt was a few million dollars paid out with the proceeds of the liquidation of his companies. Since being released from jail, he has paid more than $2 million toward his debt, much of it coming from a “fan club” that receives donations from his supporters. FTC attorneys said the amount Trudeau still owes is more than $20 million.
Trudeau is the star employee of GIN Unite, traveling across the country to offer life coaching to crowds of fans, work that his lawyer said was hindered by his inability to travel internationally without court approval. Gettleman on Thursday approved a trip to an event in Idaho for later this year, but he held off on granting permission for travel to Puerto Rico.
Outside the courtroom, Trudeau said he intended to live “very modestly” — GIN Unite has paid for first-class flights and four-star hotel accommodations when he travels — and work diligently to pay off his debt.
No return to jail— for now— for TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau - Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A man described as a Chicago huckster, fraudster and ex-con is back in legal trouble, just months after being released from federal prison.
Federal authorities said they are still uncertain the true amount of dough that this Chicago weight-loss infomercial king actually has and they want him locked up again because he still owes so many millions to the government.
However, Kevin Trudeau remains free while a U.S. judge orders him to come up with some financial answers.
"Where are you going," Trudeau yelled as his hired car seemed to veer away this afternoon outside the Dirksen Federal courthouse Thursday.
Trudeau isn't going anywhere after a federal judge ordered him to remain in the Chicago area, even though he wants to travel globally for business.
Trudeau is still on probation after serving eight years of a 10-year sentence for criminal contempt after continuing to make deceptive weight-loss claims in his infomercials.
The Federal Trade Commission had asked Judge Robert Gettleman to lock up Trudeau. FTC attorneys cited that there is $30 million of Trudeau's money that is allegedly unaccounted for, even as they say the convicted fraudster still owes a portion of a $37 million federal judgment, despite Trudeau's claims he's all paid up.
Trudeau's ex-wife, Natasha Babenko, has voluntarily turned over documents to the FTC from their Oak Brook mansion and from Zurich, Switzerland, that she claims provides new information about where Trudeau has assets overseas.
She was deposed by FTC attorneys who said she told them that when she traveled to Trudeau's home in Zurich, she saw gold bars and massive amounts of jewelry.
RELATED: Kevin Trudeau, an unlikely pauper
When he was living the very high life, Chicago's weight-loss infomercial king didn't have to worry about hailing a ride-share because he had his own Bentley.
Judge Gettleman has other questions for Trudeau, notably, why he didn't report to the judge when he was released from prison this year.
Trudeau is due back in court a week from Wednesday and has an FTC deposition December 9.
Who is Kevin Trudeau: Chicago's weight-loss infomercial king back in legal trouble months after released from federal prison - ABC7 Chicago
Judge finds convicted TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau in contempt for failing to report to court
Sham diet book author Kevin Trudeau won’t face jail for now, but U.S. authorities demand that he start paying down a $37 million fine.
By Andy Grimm
Jan 26, 2023, 9:19pm EST
TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau avoided a return to the federal lockup Thursday for skipping a court date, but whether the fraudster remains free may just be a matter of time — and money.
Near the start of a daylong hearing at the Dirksen Federal Building, Judge Robert Gettleman found Trudeau in contempt for failing to report to court in the spring of 2022 after he ended his time in a halfway house after serving eight years in prison on a previous contempt conviction.
The judge said he would decide later whether to have Trudeau locked up or impose a fine on top of the $37.6 million he was ordered to pay in 2013 for defrauding people who bought his sham diet book, “The Weight-Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.”
For the remainder of the six-hour hearing, Trudeau’s lawyers and government attorneys argued over whether Trudeau should go to jail for failing to pay down the millions he still owes on the diet book judgment.
Trudeau made no payments while he was incarcerated, but he put up $1.86 million in recent weeks, the judge said, noting that money came from “gifts” of as much as $50,000 each from members of Trudeau’s “fan club.”
“It’s a lot of money,” Gettleman said. “If it was legitimately raised and not … just from assets that he controls — [because] that would be a real problem— then it does indicate he can contribute to the judgement.”
Federal Trade Commission lawyer Jonathan Cohen was not persuaded.
“He’s just paying us other people’s money,” Cohen said, noting that Trudeau claimed nearly $1 million in salary and bonuses from several businesses, and that “fan club” funds are also financing Trudeau’s legal defense and other expenses.
Trudeau has probably been lying about his assets to the court for a decade or more, Cohen said, noting that a court-appointed receiver charged with assessing Trudeau’s wealth in 2013 could not account for at least $30 million.
Cohen briefly called Trudeau’s ex-wife, Natasha Babenko, to testify about gold bars that Trudeau kept in home safes and safe deposit boxes at banks in downtown Chicago and Zurich, Switzerland.
Trudeau has testified in depositions that the gold belonged to his ex-wife, but Babenko said Thursday that although Trudeau had put safe deposit boxes in her name, she never had access to them.
The first time she had ever seen a gold bar, Babenko said, was when a TSA agent searched Trudeau’s carry-on bag at O’Hare Airport. In the years that followed, she saw Trudeau handling them often at their home in Oak Brook, and once saw him put a box of gold bars into a duffel bag before a spur-of-the moment trip to Guatemala.
“I would see [gold bars] next to the jewelry, see him taking them in and out of the safe,” she said. “It was a very common thing to see, like him smoking a cigar every day.”
From the few million dollars in assets identified by the receiver, the FTC has twice made payouts to around 600,000 people who bought copies of Trudeau’s book, Cohen said, but the checks totaled around $25.
In addition to the $1.85 million Trudeau had raised from his fan club, his lawyer, Giel Stein, said that Trudeau has been making money by organizing and speaking at events, and he could pay back his victims sooner if he were able to travel outside the state.
Trudeau on Thursday agreed to empty his bank accounts of about $200,000, but Stein noted that the pitchman needs considerable income to be able to put on events, pay his taxes and maintain his signature lifestyle.
“The court has now $1.85 million reasons to believe he can [pay] and will continue to do so,” Stein said. “He can raise money by being Mr. Trudeau ... because that’s what people like and they’ll pay for.”
Trudeau will return to court in March for another hearing to determine his assets.
Judge finds convicted TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau in contempt for failing to report to court - Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)
Kevin Trudeau's ex-wife tells judge he had gold bars (chicagotribune.com)
No return to jail— for now— for TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau
Federal judge rules author of ‘Weight Loss Secrets “They” Don’t Want You To Know’ can remain free, and working, to pay off $37 million judgment.
By Andy Grimm
Jun 1, 2023, 9:19pm EST
Over the last two decades, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman has thrown TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau in a federal lockup twice in a quest to get the onetime infomercial king to pay off $37 million to consumers who bought his sham diet book.
On Thursday, the judge opted to let Trudeau remain free, and even considered letting him travel outside the country, to keep earning the millions he still needs to pay off his debt.
After a daylong hearing, one in a series of court sessions that have spanned months as the judge sought to figure out if Trudeau was shielding assets in off-shore accounts or hiding gold bars in Swiss vaults, Gettleman ruled that he could have again sent Trudeau back to jail — but wouldn’t. For now.
“The intention is to get to the bottom of all this and get the judgment paid off ... and I don’t think that’s furthered by incarcerating Mr. Trudeau,” said Gettleman, who has presided over Trudeau’s case since the late 1990s. “If it doesn’t work or if I have problems, then I’m going right back to the other option that I’m avoiding here today.”
Gettleman had considered throwing Trudeau in prison in 2014 — already having locked him up for brief stints twice in 2013 — when Trudeau began serving an eight-year sentence in federal prison in an unrelated case.
Gettleman noted that he could have jailed Trudeau for contempt earlier this year, after Trudeau failed to tell the judge that he had been released.
To settle the debt, the judge ordered Trudeau to pay 75% of his after-tax earnings from his work as an employee for Global Information Network Unite, a successor company to the one a court-appointed receiver sold off to Trudeau’s business associates before he went to prison. He must also forfeit all of his earnings from side deals, such as a proposed endorsement agreement with a natural cures company — if such a deal doesn’t defy a court order barring Trudeau from making health-related claims about consumer products.
Lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission have long maintained that Trudeau has never given a full accounting of the assets he retained from the roughly $515 million he collected from sales of books, videos and other products from the 1990s onward, and said Thursday that after numerous days in court and multiple depositions, private investigations and the work of a court-appointed receiver, Trudeau still had not proved that he didn’t have access to hidden wealth.
Prior to landing in court late last year, the only money put toward Trudeau’s debt was a few million dollars paid out with the proceeds of the liquidation of his companies. Since being released from jail, he has paid more than $2 million toward his debt, much of it coming from a “fan club” that receives donations from his supporters. FTC attorneys said the amount Trudeau still owes is more than $20 million.
Trudeau is the star employee of GIN Unite, traveling across the country to offer life coaching to crowds of fans, work that his lawyer said was hindered by his inability to travel internationally without court approval. Gettleman on Thursday approved a trip to an event in Idaho for later this year, but he held off on granting permission for travel to Puerto Rico.
Outside the courtroom, Trudeau said he intended to live “very modestly” — GIN Unite has paid for first-class flights and four-star hotel accommodations when he travels — and work diligently to pay off his debt.
No return to jail— for now— for TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau - Chicago Sun-Times (suntimes.com)
