WIN, GIN... I just phoned this in

So while we're waiting to see what kind of protests will be launched against the pending sale of jailed serial scammer Kevin Trudeau's huge scam, the Global Information Network (GIN), there's plenty of entertainment to be had for those who are following this and related Scamworld sagas. Just a few snippets today, Dear Ones. And if some of you have a feeling of deja vu, it's because most of this post consists of comments of mine that I lifted from various Facebook conversations. I'm lazy that way, sometimes.

A sepia-tone scam with a portrait of Winston Churchill in the background = still a scam

Well, the long awaited introductory video for the new GIN ripoff, WIN (World Information Network) has been uploaded to YouTube. I watched it. And wow. Dignified sepia tone! Big important looking desk! Portrait of Churchill on the paneled wall!* Slow, careful, 'hypnotic' speech!

What could possibly be wrong?

What's not to trust?

A friend of mine watched the vid and noted that WIN spokesman and exec-direc Perry Kiraly is no KT, and comes across as a tad creepy. My pal remarked, "At least KT had charm while he picked your pockets." Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. Another Facebook friend noted that Perry seemed kind of like Neo-tech's Mark Scamilton. Yep.

At one point Perry says, "I could tell you that I believe WIN will make you rich... but I'd rather say that WIN will remind you that you are already rich." That's a paraphrase (Perry-phrase?), but... hey, nice dodge, Perry!

KATIE still begging
Meanwhile, Perry's mentor and inspiration, Kevin Trudeau, is still begging, or letting people beg on his behalf. As reported on one of several updates to my April 17 ("AXS of evil") post, Katie's legal defense fund managers are still pleading for money to help his cause, and there's going to be a big to-do in L.A. on May 10. As I also reported, Katie's appeal has run into a roadblock: his alleged "poverty," which he claims is preventing him from being able to come up with the filing fee. Here is the docket for the Appeals case so far (click to enlarge).

Kevin has until May 27 to either come up with the filing fee for his appeal, or convince the court that he really, really is poor. But since his request to file as a pauper and waive the fee has already been denied (as of April 24), I doubt if he will have any luck with the poor-boy tactic. But no worries! Since the fees only come to a little over $500, perhaps one of his prosperous pals could step up to the plate. Now, I'm not talking about the legendary GIN Council. I'm talking about some real peeps who are still defending him to this day. Fred Van Liew? Morters? Lee Kenny?

Or maybe the guys from AXS -- the group who is trying to buy GIN -- could pool their resources and pay the fee for Katie. Troy? Blaine? Chris? Greg? Jeff? Come on, guys. Y'all said you were his friends! On second thought, I can see why Troy and the gang would be reluctant to openly give money for his appeal, at least until after the judge approves the GIN sale. The purchasers have to be on their best behavior and not do anything to annoy the judge. But what about all of those other friends?

Or what about some of you loyal fans? If you're so rich from the stuff that Katie taught you, surely you could donate a few Benjamins to the cause. Anybody?

My understanding is that if he doesn't come up with the money to file by May 27, that kills the appeal, unless the judge changes his mind and decides Katie is a poor boy after all. Which isn't likely, considering that, as noted above, the judge already rejected his pauper claim. The April 24 court doc denying the poor-boy excuse has the exact figures, including the amount Katie has in his prison piggy bank. I shared it on Facebook the other day and there is a screen shot on my blog too, on my "AXS of evil" post. Here is that shot again.


So if he doesn't come up with the filing fee, and this appeals case is dismissed, I wonder if he can start another one, or if he only gets one chance. I am not sure how these things work.

If his appeal is dismissed for lack of fees for filing, and if he doesn't get another chance at an appeal, I wonder if it will even be valid for the fundraisers to keep on begging for money for his legal defense fund going forward. No doubt he owes his lawyers money for what they have already done for him, but it seems kind of sleazy to beg his fans to give money with the implication that it will be used to help overturn his conviction and set him free, when there is no chance that this will happen.

I am just thinking ahead and speculating; this may all be moot. As I noted, the big rally is May 10 and he has till May 27 to come up with the $500.

But I still wonder why none of his buddies stepped up to pay his filing fee. Fair-weather friends? Is it that they're all too willing to still talk about him like he is a hero, but apparently not willing to put their money where their lying mouths are?

On the other hand, knowing how manipulative Katie is, he may still be orchestrating a lot of this from jail. Maybe someone did offer to pay his filing fee but he said no and decided to make a big drama-queen thing of it to win more sympathy and ultimately get more money from suckers. After all, even if he got the money for the filing fee now he would still be in jail. He has nothing to lose by waiting a few weeks.

While we're waiting for the story to unfold, here's a lovely song for Katie by the late genius Nick Drake.



Katie is still on TV, and here's why.
Ever since Trudeau was convicted, and even before, people have been wondering why his infomercials still run on TV. Actually Katie hasn't been in charge of most of those for quite some time now, at least on paper. Other people are making money off of those atrocities; well, at least on paper they are "others." The Chicago Tribune's Jason Meisner, who has been providing excellent Katie coverage for many months, posted this story today. A reader wondered why Katie's "Free Money" infomercials are still running. Meisner explained:

The "Free Money" infomercial that Churchman saw was actually shot years ago and produced by a California company called Free is My Favorite LLC, which also owns the rights to Trudeau's book, records show. Under their sales agreement, the owners of Free is My Favorite were to pay Trudeau a small percentage of the sales in royalties.

That money is now being forwarded to the government and being held in a trust. Eventually it will go toward paying off a whopping $37 million fine levied against Trudeau by the Federal Trade Commission, a fine that Trudeau has long claimed he's too broke to pay.

Repeated efforts to reach owners of Free is My Favorite were not successful.

I strongly suspect that Free Is My Favorite, which was founded in 2009 (the same year GIN was launched) has some connection to Trudeau beyond the royalty deal. (When following the links to the LLC companies, click on the "Officers" tab.) The same guy who owns Free Is My Favorite, Nicholas J. Esayian, also owns Debt Cures, LLC, and those Katie-mercials are still running on the tube too. In 2008, Nick wrote a five-star review on Amazon for Trudeau's Debt Cures book. Hmmm.

Nick owns a couple of other entities that also seem to be Katie-ish, such as Natural Press, LLC. Apparently Katie was one of his "clients" at one time for one of Nick's many bidness entities, Revenue Solutions. But on Katie's profile page, it seems that they never got past Lorum ipsum (the dummy-text placeholder).

Google has some interesting search results for Nick E. He's a pro car racer who was nabbed for misdemeanor DUI back in '03. A March 2014 UT San Diego article describes him as an infomercial mogul. That makes sense. Here's a 2012 piece that describes him as conservative, family-values oriented, proudly politically incorrect, and "a shrewd businessman." And here's his Linkedin profile.

Here is Nick, looking rather hair-pluggish and very well fed, proudly posing at the 2013 Opening Day of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club outside San Diego with a woman who is showing off her Opening Day hat. According to the buzz on Hatlife.com, it was quite a party.

Photo may have been slightly embellished by blogger. ;-)

And here's a 2012 discussion forum that shows that some folks "get" Nick.
 
The point is that Trudeau still gets a percentage of the Free Money infomercial sales, as part of his agreement with Free Is My Favorite, LLC, and now that money is supposedly being forwarded to the gummit. But I wonder where and how the rest of the revenue is being funneled. Maybe Nick can take some time out from his busy schedule to write to this blog and tell us. But if Jason Meisner's comment above is any indication, Nick doesn't seem to be very interested in talking to the press.

Jason is the reporter I emailed a few months ago about Katie's jailhouse Facebook ramblings (I sent him a link to my December 19, 2013 McMiracle post. I had been blogging about these silly posts since November 2013; here's my first one.) At the time I sent him the email, Jason said he hadn't been paying attention to Katie's jailhouse ruminations but would start doing so. I'm glad to see he has been doing just that. In his piece he confirms that Katie is actually writing at least some of those schlocky posts and emailing them to a "colleague" so they can be posted on the Kevin Trudeau Facebook fan page.

In addition to the TV spots, Trudeau also maintains an active Facebook page, where missives he emails from the Metropolitan Correctional Center to a colleague are regularly posted. In the writings, Trudeau often likens himself to jailed civil rights leaders of the past and waxes poetic about the positive effect life behind bars has had on him.

"Had a great nights sleep after the sentencing!" Trudeau wrote in a March 19 post. "Mandela got 28 years, I was blessed to get only 10. I have deep love and appreciation for the Judge and the prosecutors."

The traffic Trudeau's posts attract suggest he still has a large number of devotees, despite his convictions for fraud. His Mandela posting, for example, received more than 1,200 "likes" and 323 comments. Most of the comments expressed support, but some were less than kind.

This is what the admins on the page had indicated some time back. So Katie does indeed have limited email access at the MCC, per their policies and procedures, despite what Katie's ex-b.f.f. Mocktor Leonard Coldwell had been saying. But I continue to refer to them as being posted by Katie's proxy (usually his long-time friend/business partner/past co-defendant/ex-gal pal Janine Nubani Contursi) because his Facebook page is indeed being admin'd by others, and they sometimes write posts for him, referring to him in third person. I imagine some of those first-person screeds are ghost-posted as well.

And even in jail, and despite the occasional "less than kind" comment to his Facebook posts, Katie still has a larger and more loyal following than Coldwell. And my guess is that he always will.

* Re the Churchill portrait, Perry seems to be imitating his idol Kevin Trudeau, who had pics of Churchill and other great historical leaders in his tacky McMansion.

I wrote about the rummage sale at the McMansion on this post.