CHICAGO — Infomercial king Kevin Trudeau may think he can sell even snow to Eskimos, but he was unable to persuade a federal judge today not to sentence him to time behind bars for bombarding the judge’s e-mail account with messages from supporters last week.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman sentenced Trudeau to 30 days in custody and ordered him to return to court Thursday to turn himself in to U.S. Marshals. Trudeau’s lawyers promised an immediate appeal in a last-ditch effort to keep the pitchman free.
Gettleman came to a boil last week after Trudeau used an Internet radio broadcast and his Web site to urge supporters to e-mail the judge with messages about how Trudeau’s products had changed their lives. The judge has been overseeing a civil complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission, in which he previously had found Trudeau in contempt of court for using deceptive advertising as he marketed a book.
Some 300 Trudeau fans responded, crashing the judge’s e-mail account and leading him to find Trudeau in criminal contempt of court. Gettleman today called the e-mail attack a deliberate attempt to “harass, intimidate and influence” him.
Trudeau’s history of ignoring court orders as he sells his health products shows the deluge was “no innocent mistake by a naive first offender,” Gettleman said.
“He’s really a career contemnor,” the judge said, adding he could count on one hand the times he had found someone in contempt of court. “And three of those fingers have Kevin Trudeau’s name on them.”
Trudeau, dressed in a sharp suit, had no visible reaction to the judge’s sentence, but smiled and joked with some in the courtroom afterward. As he left the courthouse, he continued to grin, telling news photographers to “get a good picture now.”
Trudeau said he only believed he was exercising his right to free speech and said he would have plenty to say on his radio network “when I get out.”
It would be Trudeau’s second stint in federal custody. He served time in prison in the early 1990’s for credit card fraud.
Trudeau’s lawyer, Kimball Anderson, read a statement after court saying Trudeau believed he had committed no crime and that the court had “exceeded the permissible bounds of its authority.”
“He believes that he was simply exercising his First Amendment rights and was permissibly encouraging others to do the same,” the statement read.
Gettleman last year found Trudeau in contempt for using deceptive advertising as he marketed his book “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” He told his audience the book detailed “the easiest method known on planet earth,” when in fact the book required followers to not eat meat, poultry, starch, fast food or microwavable food, among other rules, and called for hormone injections.
Gettleman had ordered Trudeau to repay more than $37 million, which Trudeau appealed. The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Gettleman’s contempt finding but sent the case back to his courtroom for further findings supporting the fine amount.
That hearing was set for early March. Trudeau’s e-mail effort was an attempt to sway Gettleman that backfired.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
