About Kevin “Untrue” Trudeau

Kevin Trudeau is one scammer that makes me cringe more than any other. That’s because in the early 1990′s, I borrowed his Mega Memory course and found it quite useful in my final year of graduate school. Even though I learned years later that virtually none of the techniques were new or developed by Trudeau, I still felt it had some value. A couple years later, I purchased his Mega Math for my nephew, and I felt that had some value as well (Mega Math was really math genius Scott Flansurg’s creation, promoted by Trudeau). So for a few years, I felt that Kevin Trudeau offered at least somewhat legitimate products. But that’s as far as my defense of Kevin Trudeau went. It’s apparent in the years since Mega Memory that Kevin Trudeau is a classic fast-talking salesman with little to offer.

In the years since, he has faced lawsuits, fines, and bans. All the Federal Trade Commission will allow him to sell on TV now are books.

So I was sipping  my morning coffee today and scanned the channels, only to see ol’ Kevin’s “Free Money” infomercial, which I’ve been seeing for about a year and a half now. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this product. Matthew Lesko made a fortune selling his “free money” and “government grants” books. That concept was picked up with a huge rush of affiliate marketing scammers a couple years ago. Now Kevin Trudeau is on that band wagon.

You can read more about these grant scam sites in my nearly 2-year-old posting here, and also consider the following:

• Most people do not qualify for the programs Trudeau lists
• Some of these programs don’t exist.
• You will be encouraged to sign up for his newsletter, which you will eventually be charged for and have a difficult time canceling.
• If you want a refund, you’re still out over $20 in “shipping” costs

And about Mr. Trudeau, consider:

• 1991 pled guilty to larceny
• 1996 settled a case of running a pyramid scheme
• 1998 fined by the FTC for false advertising in several infomercials
• 2003 injunction filed, preventing him from promoting certain products
• 2004 contempt of court for violating injunction
• 2005 New York Consumer Protection Board warned that Trudeau has been misleading and used false endorsements
• 2006 cited a non-existent study supposedly showing a cure for diabetes. He has since said the study was destroyed as a cover-up.
• 2007 found in contempt of court again for violating the 2004 injunction
• 2008 Fined $37 million and banned from infomercials for his “Cures” book
• 2010 arrested for contempt of court, though it was dismissed on appeal