Markets Wired

On November 16, 2007, a U.S. District Court judge found Kevin Trudeau in contempt of court for violating a 2004 permanent injunction. The Court found that Trudeau violated the permanent injunction when he misrepresented the contents of his book, “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About,” in several infomercials. The permanent injunction banned Trudeau from using infomercials to sell any product, service, or program. The ban contained a narrow exemption for infomercials for books and other publications, but specifically required that Trudeau not misrepresent the content of the books. Judge Robert W. Gettelman ruled that Trudeau “…has misrepresented the contents of his book by stating in his infomercials that his diet protocol was ‘easy’ and that it allowed dieters to ‘eat whatever they want,’ and he has misled thousands of consumers.”

The 2004 permanent injunction settled the Federal Trade Commission’s charges that Trudeau had falsely claimed that his calcium product could cure cancer and other serious diseases, and that a purported analgesic called Biotape could permanently cure or relieve severe pain. The appropriate contempt remedy for violating the permanent injunction is still to be determined by the Court.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.