Alabama prison camp now housing legendary shyster known as ‘infomercial king’

Kevin Trudeau, who is known to many as the “infomercial king,” but to a federal judge as “deceitful to the core,” is now serving a 10-year sentence in Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Ala.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled that Trudeau had made false health and diet claims in his book, “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want you to Know About,” and ordered him to pay a $37 million judgement, but he refused.

“He’s lied to consumers thousands of times,” said FTC attorney Jonathan Cohen. “He’s lied to the FTC many times… He ran the infomercial approximately 32,000 times. Essentially none of the things that Trudeau said about the weight loss program were true.”

But the lies Trudeau wrote in his book pale in comparison to the other scheme he cooked up while the FTC investigators were preoccupied with the book case.

CNBC explains:

While the FTC case on the book’s claims was underway in 2007, Trudeau was in the middle of courting investors for the “Global Information Network,” or GIN, investigators say.

GIN essentially was a $110 million pyramid scheme with more than 35,000 members, which the FTC’s Jonathan Cohen tells CNBC was “largely for Trudeau’s own benefit,” and used to conceal millions of dollars in assets from the government.

Investors paid for access to expert financial advice and promises of wealth that never materialized.

Trudeau claimed that he had founded GIN with a council of 30 “global powerhouses” who were willing to share the secrets that made them rich.

“These people are billionaires, multi-billionaires,” Trudeau said. “They control major industries around the world.”

Even though Trudeau refused to reveal any of the members of the council, tens of thousands of people flocked to GIN, many of them investing their life savings.

In just a few years, GIN generated over $100 million in revenue and grew to over 35,000 members, most of whom never saw a dime.

So why would a guy who was already in trouble for a $37 million book scam turn around and immediately launch an even bigger fraud?

As it turns out, Trudeau was using GIN to conceal his fortune. So even while he was refusing to pay the $37 million FTC judgement, he was able to funnel $7 million to his lawyers to fight the charges.

He was ultimately sentenced to ten years in prison for criminal contempt.

But that hasn’t stopped him. From behind bars in Montgomery, Trudeau has reached out to many of his followers. And believe it or not, some of them continue to donate.

But for now, at least, Trudeau has had to move out of this luxury Chicago-area home…

…and into into his new digs in Montgomery.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims