Monday, November 12, 2012

Kevin Trudeau: KSHB-TV undercover investigation

On my previous blog post I mentioned an undercover investigative story by Ryan Kath at the Kansas City, Missouri, NBC affiliate, KSHB-TV. I've been interested in this because the subject of the investigation, which was set in motion when Kansas City resident Abe Husein approached Kath three months ago, is one of my Whirled's favorite snargets, serial scammer Kevin Trudeau, and Trudeau's Ponzi-ish Global Information Network (GIN). Click on the graphic above to get to the video of the story on the KSHB-TV site, as well as a written summary. Or click right here.

Will this one video, clocking in at a little over eight minutes, bring the whole GIN empire tumbling down? Some have pinned their hopes on that very scenario. While I think those folks are entirely too optimistic, I think that Ryan Kath did a fine job, and it is obvious that the finished piece just tells the bare-bones tale. The story is ongoing, and I'm sure Ryan and his team have plenty more footage and that this investigation is not finished. I've also heard that other stations and possibly other networks will be doing something with this story.

For now, enjoy the show, feel free to share the link, and if you've been screwed by Trudeau or GIN yourself -- or even if you just think this is a story that needs to be told -- do what Abe Husein did. Go to your local media. Go to the national or international media. Tell your story. Make them see why this is important. People are getting screwed by Trudeau and his ilk every single day -- and not just young, ambitious guys like Abe and his friend
Mark Uresti (another ex-GIN member who also contributed to the story), but also vulnerable retirees, downsized baby boomers who have been forced into early retirement, out-of-work college grads living in their parents' basement... a whole sea of people who are nothing but walking wallets to the likes of Kevin Trudeau.

And Trudeau and his top minions will do everything they can to bleed these folks' wallets dry, and he will sneer at them for being "losers" when they don't want to go along with his games any more. And when they drop out of the club he will simply hunt for more victims. He is a predator, pure and simple.

The elephant in the room is this: Trudeau's criminal history is well known. Very well known. Why, then, did so many people sign up for GIN knowing of this history? Abe explains that Trudeau is a master persuader. Combine that with the fact that hope springs infernal (as Steve Salerno of SHAMblog put it), and you have the perfect setup for a profitable scam -- profitable for the top scammer, that is.

In any case, whatever Abe's motives were for joining GIN, I think he did a very good thing by setting this story in motion. My only hope for him is that he doesn't cast his lot permanently with other scammers who are as bad or worse than "KT" (or "KY," as Abe and many other ex-fans of Trudeau call him).

In any case, I think that most people are beginning to realize that this battle is not over. The truth is that Scamworld is a big, sick world. Even so, every bit of effort helps. So congratulations again to Abe for getting this started, and for Ryan for telling the story.
Here's that link again.

More GIN tales (and hilarious graphics) on Bernie O'Mahony's
GINtruth.com.

More True-dough on this Whirled:

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    2 comments:

    RevRonsRants said...

    Blogger RevRon's Rants said...

    I admit to being very leery of self-aggrandizement, and particularly suspicious of people who pound their chests and proclaim themselves to be "fighters for truth." Such a description is infinitely more credible when applied by others, and applying it to one's self has long been a favored practice of scammers, with Trudeau being a prime example.

    After reading the content of the Kansas City news report, I find myself modifying an old sexist axiom to read, "Hell hath no fury like an opportunist denied easy riches." Husein admits that he knew about Trudeau's checkered (to say the least) past, but chose to "give him the benefit of the doubt." I think it more accurate to suggest that he SOLD Trudeau the benefit of the doubt, willingly entering into an arrangement with a well-established fraud, in the hopes of being enriched by the arrangement. When Abe discovered that he had himself been taken - and had, in fact, induced others to be taken, as well - he embarked upon a vendetta to get back at his once-trusted mentor. And while Trudeau obviously deserves the ensuing retribution, I think it prudent to look objectively at the whole arrangement, especially given the fact that Abe has since become bosom buddies with one "Dr." Leonard Coldwell, whose past is if anything more checkered than Trudeau's. As I see it, Abe is either one of the most gullible and naive individuals ever to walk the planet, or is less concerned with his highly-touted quest for truth than for his so far frustrated quest for riches. I don't think that either can be justifiably discounted.

    As I see it, yet another such "truth warrior" can be found in Peter Wink, who spent considerable time in Trudeau's inner circle, aggressively promoting Trudeau's scam, yet who now claims to have been altogether unaware of the unseemly nature of the business, and is cooperating with efforts to prosecute his one-time respected mentor and dear friend. Such a disclaimer just doesn't pass any reasonable smell test. The fact that Wink too has now moved on to aggressively promote Coldwell's business venture should give any intelligent person pause. Wink's pattern has been one of embracing, befriending, actively promoting, and ultimately abandoning and deriding his past clients, even before getting on board with Trudeau.

    As to Coldwell himself, who claims to be yet another fount of truth and healing, his responses to his critics are frankly pathetic, not to mention slanderous. Aside from the fact that he has referred to Connie as a "cosmic slut," and accused her of things which he knows to be lies, he has even sought information with which to discredit her (good luck with that, not-doctor). The last straw in my book was his very public declaration that she is a "cancer that needs to be cured." (I have screen shots). Even if his illiterate displays of grammar and spelling and his gross misuse of psychiatric terminology weren't sufficient to disprove his claims of advanced education and medical expertise, his characterization of a critic as a disease is diametrically opposed to the principles to which any real physician is sworn to adhere.

    Bottom line is that given each of these individuals' actual (as opposed to self-revised) histories, it is only wise to take their proclamations with not a grain, but a metric ton of salt. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

    Anonymous said...

    I just left Gin. I had NO idea of all the BS going on, until I got an email from Coldwell in November, and believe it or not, the supposed GIN council for me to watch 41 New. This is where my journey to truth began.

    Anyway, I was a level ONE only for almost 2 years, just using the tools, never recruiting anyone and the info was good. I must say, however, that the cloak hiding the truth was huge. This is why I ask you don't demean us any further than we already feel since discovering we'd been had. The GIN concept was wonderful. But the greed from KT and his ilk has my stomach turning since I read the court docs..THAT HE KEPT SECRET! Dang!!

    After I joined, I saw a ktradio transmission where Kevin chatted with ( I believe,not sure ) Fred Van Liew where Kevin said on air "hahahah we got away with cheating the criminal IRS of $3 MILLION. hahahaha, it is too late for them to follow up". Almost those words. Anyway, I looked up on his youtube channel "irs, fred van liew" and it seems April 20, it's either 2008 or 2009 ( sorry, I don't have time to recheck) but that date is where his youtube video is only 20 minutes. HMMMM .. EDITING here???

    Please stop calling us losers, dupes, koolaid drinkers, sheep, or any other derogatory name. That makes you look like the crap. We ALL have been duped at some time in our lives. That makes us feel worse than ever when we now admit we have been had and it makes you look like $%*&. Stop the pain..

    Anyway, CosmicConnie, please keep us informed. I await news updates with baited breath. No kidding.

    NOTE: I have read blogs where GIN members quit GIN but still get billed monthly. Um.. You need to DELETE YOUR BILLING INFORMATION FIRST, first first! Click out of the window, then fast, go back and quit GIN. I did this and have NOT been billed. This is a MUST do to NOT get continual billing.

    Peace to all.