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Kevin Trudeau
Kevin Trudeau Biography
Kevin Trudeau
claims to be of the world’s foremost authorities on memory improvement
training. As founder of the American Memory Institute, he has helped a vast
number of people to improve their memory. Over one million people have
benefited from his home study system, making his Mega Memory series the
most utilized Self Improvement series of all time.
Trudeau says that
there is no such thing as a good or bad memory—only a trained or untrained
memory. He says you can access the area of your mind that never forgets, called
the knowledge bank, which stores information like your name and the alphabet.
The techniques in Mega Memory teach you to file new information in the
knowledge bank permanently.
At an early age, Trudeau was labeled with a learning
disability and was convinced it was due to his inability to recall information.
Mega Memory is based on methods first discovered while working with blind
and retarded children. He adapted these techniques so that anyone could release
their own instant-recall memory ability. Kevin is also an author and speaks
before thousands of people each year.
Things You
Probably Didn’t Know About Mr. Trudeau
MyPersonalGrowth.com
found, via published articles, that
Kevin Trudeau is a marketer extraordinaire, with a more-than-checkered past. A
twice-convicted felon, he served time in a Federal penitentiary, for credit card
fraud. The Federal Trade Commission has prosecuted him more than once for making
and airing fraudulent infomercials. He has been the subject of investigations by
18 state Attorneys general and the US Postal Service.
His involvement in Nutrition for Life, Inc., a multilevel marketing business
based in Houston, TX, ended after the SEC began investigating his distributor
recruitment practices. On April 17,1996, the Illinois Attorney General filed
suit against Trudeau and a partner for running an illegal pyramid scheme with
Nutrition for Life and Nightingale-Conant. The State of Michigan ordered Trudeau
to cease all marketing in the state related to his business, the Trudeau
Marketing Group.
Eight marketers of self-help and health-related products promoted in radio and
television infomercials have agreed to settle FTC charges that ad claims for
their products were false or unsubstantiated.
Kevin Trudeau developed and hosted radio and TV infomercials for a range of
products in conjunction with two infomercial production companies, Mega Systems,
Inc. and Tru-Vantage, L.L.C. Many of the infomercials had names such as “A
Closer Look”, and were formatted to appear to be commercial radio and TV
interview programs or talk shows, not the advertisements they actually were.
Five respondents, including Trudeau himself, invented or manufactured the
products or services that were featured in the infomercials and appeared in the
infomercials promoting them .
“Howard Berg’s Mega Reading”
produced by Trudeau and Tru-Vantage International, L.L.C. According to the FTC,
Berg had no basis for claiming that his program could teach anyone, including
adults, children and disabled individuals to significantly increase their
reading speed while substantially comprehending and retaining the material, and
the claim is false.
To settle FTC charges, Kevin Trudeau, who developed and appeared in
all the infomercials, including the one for his “Mega Memory
System”, paid $500,000 in consumer redress and is be barred from
making false claims for the products in the future. Trudeau was be
required to establish a $500,000 escrow account or performance bond
to assure compliance. Infomercial producer Mega Systems
International, Inc. and its principal Jeffrey Salberg, also will pay
$500,000 for consumer redress.
Note: Consent
agreements are for settlement purposes only and do not constitute admissions of
law violations. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it
carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such
an order may result in civil penalty of $11,000.
However, Mr.
Trudeau always seems to bounce back and surface again with a new program and
pitch. One venture is a book with an enticing title that came out in 2005, with
the help of Alliance Publishing: Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You To
Know About. This was the leading hardcover adult bestseller, with sales
of more than 3.7 million copies. When factoring in direct-to-customer sales via
TV infomercials, the number goes higher. At a typical hardcover price of $25,
this book is estimated to have generated retail sales of $90+ million. In the
book, Trudeau takes on the pharmaceutical industry and many of his medical
claims are controversial and hotly disputed. No matter, consumers kept buying,
because Trudeau tells you what you want to hear.
His latest book is one called The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You to
Know About.
During 2007, according to Publisher’s Weekly, he sold 825,913 units.
He hasn't strayed far from his
successful
diet and
health book formula, which critics say panders to consumer
paranoia.
His new book, coincidentally introduced at the height of the current
credit crises, is: Debt Cures They Don't Want You To Know About.
Consumers who call an 800 number to
order a copy are reporting very similar experiences as when they called to order
Natural Cures
They Don't Want You To Know About. They're finding it very hard to buy
just the book.
The book is currently only
available from Trudeau, either by calling a toll-free number or going to a Web
site. The book, if purchased from Trudeau, costs $29.95 plus nearly $12 shipping
and handling. "Debt Cures They Don't Want You To Know About" was later available
from Amazon.com for only $17. And if you're even considering purchasing it, it
might be wise to read a few reviews first and to consider Trudeau's previous
record.
In September 2004, Trudeau agreed
to pay $2 million 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.
In September 2007, the FTC sued Trudeau again, charging him with violating the
2004 court order.
In October 2007, the FTC sued
marketers of Kevin Trudeau’s book, The
Weight Loss Cure
They Don’t Want You to Know About, charging they made claims that were false
and unsubstantiated.
Don't just rely on the so-called
reviews you'll find online. Many are shills for the book. They offer up some
criticism of Trudeau and his business practices, but in the end conclude,
grudgingly, that the book is actually pretty good, and therefore worth the
price.
To be fair to Trudeau, many of the
"mainstream" reviews of his book say the information he provides is just fine,
if a little outdated in some areas. However, as Chuck Jaffe, of the respected
financial Website Marketwatch.com concludes in
his review, almost
all of it is available for free, online and from other sources.
The real problem with the book,
Jaffe concludes, is the gauntlet consumers like Cynthia must pass through when
they place their orders.
"If you call for the book, you will
be offered a whole lot of other goods and services, and you'll be expected to
subscribe to the monthly Debt Cures newsletter for $9.95 per month," Jaffee
writes. "By the time you get off the phone, if you fall for the wide range of
sales pitches, you'll be about $250 deeper in debt and will add to that debt
every succeeding month."
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