Legal News

Jail Time Ordered for Infomercial King Who Blasted Judge With Email

By Amir Efrati

We’ve all seen him on TV. But soon Kevin Trudeau (pictured), the controversial infomercial king who sells the book “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About,” could be pitching the product, in person, to men in orange jumpsuits.

That’s because on Wednesday U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago sentenced Trudeau to 30 days in custody for encouraging his supporters to bombard the judge’s email inbox. The deluge crashed the judge’s computer. Here are stories from the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. HT: ABA Journal.

According to the Trib, Trudeau used an Internet radio broadcast and his Web site to urge supporters to e-mail the judge with messages about how his products had changed their lives.

Some 300 Trudeau fans responded, crashing the judge’s e-mail account and leading him to find Trudeau in criminal contempt of court. On Wednesday, Gettleman called the e-mail tactic a deliberate attempt to “harass, intimidate and influence” him. He stayed the sentence by 24 hours so Trudeau could appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trudeau previously said he believed he was only exercising his right to free speech. According to the Trib’s account, 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.

In case you were wondering about the book, Gettleman found Trudeau in contempt of court last year for using deceptive advertising after telling his audience the book detailed “the easiest method known on planet Earth.” However, the book required followers to not eat meat, poultry, starch, fast food or microwaved food, among other rules, and called for hormone injections.

Trudeau is no stranger to federal prison. He served time in the early 1990s for credit card fraud, the Trib wrote.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).