Infomercial Guru Trudeau Sued Again By FTC

The Federal Trade Commission says weight-loss infomercial guru Kevin Trudeau violated the terms of a court order preventing him from pitching bogus weight claims.

In 2004, to settle a suit filed by the FTC against claims his products could cure cancer, other diseases, and relieve pain, Trudeau agreed not to use infomercials to sell any health products.

There was a small carveout for infomercial for books, but he was still not allowed to make specious claims.

Trudeau in a trio of TV infomercials on his book, The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You To Know About, talks of eating all you want and still losing weight, while the FTC says the book actually outlines a rigorous diet, severe food restrictions, and daily injections of a hard-to-get drug.

The FTC's contempt action against Trudeau for the alleged violation was filed in an Illinois U.S. District Court.

The FTC first sued Trudeau in 1998 for hawking hair restorers and memory and weight lost products.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.