Eight misbehavin'? GIN is using imprisoned founder Kevin Trudeau to promote their Level 8 "training"

On paper, GIN and Kevin Trudeau are divorced. But they're clearly still in love.
 
If some of this post looks familiar, it's because it is a slightly expanded version of what was originally an addendum to my previous post. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this matter deserved its own post. I've changed part of the title from the original, and modified some of the text, to reflect the fact that GIN is using Kevin Trudeau to promote their own "Level 8" training.
~ CC

It is becoming more and more apparent that rumors of Kevin Trudeau's imminent release from prison, which I discussed at length a few days ago, have been greatly exaggerated, and that the source of said exaggeration is, indeed, Kevin himself, as I'd speculated earlier. It is also becoming increasingly apparent that the Global Information Network (GIN) still has a cozy relationship with Kevin, founder of the organization, even though he no longer has legal ownership. They haven't turned their backs on him, nor he on them.

Shortly after I published my previous blog post exploring the buzz on Facebook that Trudeau might be released from prison "soon" (i.e., ahead of the May 2022 eligibility date), there was another Important Announcement about him, not only on several Facebook pages, but also on the official GIN site. This one seems to walk back the previous messages about the imminence of Trudeau's release. And it purports to be straight from the incarcerated horse's mouth.

Some of you may be asking, "If Trudeau is locked up, how can he be posting online at all? Isn't that sort of stuff forbidden, even in minimum-security facilities like FPC Montgomery?" Well, not exactly.

I've previously reported that Trudeau does not have direct access to the Internet or even to regular email, but he does have limited email access through the internal prison system. This was the case even when he was locked up in Chicago's notorious MCC a few years ago, pending his criminal trial. It's still the case now that he's at FPC Montgomery, which he likes to call "Camp Cupcake."

All of his emails are monitored by prison staff, and there's only a small group of "approved" correspondents with whom he communicates. It is these folks who actually post the messages on social media and on various web sites, but he's in charge. Until and unless I am presented with credible evidence to the contrary, I am going to continue to assume that the schlocky promotional copy I'm reading on Facebook and the web sites in question is being dictated or guided by Kevin Trudeau.

So let's get to that more recent Big Announcement: on January 24, 2020, there was a cross-posting on several of the Katie-friendly Facebook pages, including on the "official" Kevin Trudeau Fan Club page.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT FROM KEVIN TRUDEAU!

This is my official announcement that I will be personally teaching and delivering live and IN PERSON, the Level 8 Success Mastery Course (SMC) Training for The Global Information Network (GIN)!

AND I am giving it to everyone FREE as my gift to Global Information Network Members!

You read that right. The ENTIRE Success Mastery Course (SMC) Level 8 Training will be FREE for qualified GIN Members!

The SMC Level 8 will be over 200 hours of personal instruction, teachings, and processes delivered directly by me in person.

Over 200 hours of highly advanced, never before released "Total Success" Training!

Regular "motivational speakers" or "success experts", would charge well over $100,000 for a 200 hour "success course".

They charge right now $15,000 - $35,000 per week for "success training".

However, NO ONE has ever taught the material in Level 8 SMC Training.

Even though the value of this Training is well over $100,000, every qualified GIN Member will be given the entire Level 8 SMC Training at ZERO COST...absolutely 100% FREE.

This is a gift from me as a "Thank You" to all those people who have supported me over the last decade.

The Level 8 SMC Training will be a 4 week course, taught in 4 separate week-long sessions over a 12 month period, starting in the summer of 2022.

This is over 200 hours of personal training with me. All the details will be coming soon from The Global Information Network.

You must be a Member of the Global Information Network (GIN) and have completed Levels 1-7 of the Success Mastery Course.

You must be signed up for the Level 7 Success Mastery Course no later than December 31, 2021 in order to receive the Level 8 SMC Training for FREE...

...If you are not a GIN member, I encourage you to contact Rahelios by clicking here: [link]
...and immediately join GIN. Be sure to ask how you can get on the special "Fast Track" to Level 7 by December 31, 2021 so that you qualify for the FREE Level 8 Success Mastery Course Training that I will teach in person.

Make sure you tell everyone you know about this opportunity of a lifetime.

Sponsor as many as you can into GIN so they too can take advantage of this incredible life changing event...

...The Level 8 Training contains material that has never been taught or available to the public. Up until now, much of this material has been reserved for the Global “Elites”, Royalty, and those in “Private Exclusive Organizations”.

Take advantage of this gift. You must act now or you will not have time to qualify.

But I have one more gift to give you.

Everyone who completes the Level 8 Training with me will also receive something very special and “valuable”. I cannot tell you exactly what this “Bonus” is. All I can say is that it will be a huge “Boon” for you that is simply too good to mention here.

I can tell you this, those who are lucky enough to complete the Level 8 Training with me are going to be doing a “happy dance” and feel like you just hit the lottery (really!) I cannot tell you more at this time. But if you are not one of those at this Training, when you hear what the “Boon” is, you will be kicking yourself in the head saying “I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE! I JUST MISSED OUT ON SOMETHING HUGE!”

When you come to this Training, expect a Miracle, because one is waiting for you and has your name on it!

....I can assure you one thing. When you complete the Level 8 Training, YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!
Much love, light and consciousness.
Your friend in prosperity,
Kevin Trudeau

Go to GlobalInformationNetwork.com for all the terms and conditions of this offer and all the details about exactly how to qualify for the free training. Click on The CLUB VISION and The SHIP VISION for more information.

https://gurukev.com/the-club/

https://gurukev.com/the-ship/

The above is just a smallish portion of a very long message. But what I found particularly interesting is that almost the exact same message is on the official GIN page -- though I should note that there's no mention of Rahelios or the GuruKev links about "The Club," and that creepy Scientology-like "ship," as there are on the Facebook pages. (I wrote about those on my Guru Kev post in December. Even if you don't read my post, do follow  "The Club" and "The Ship" links for some eye-popping grandiosity that indicates Kevin Trudeau has not changed a bit since he first began dreaming up GIN, and that he's paving the way for another huge con -- which may or may not be offered in conjunction with GIN. I'm still trying to figure that out but will get back with updates when I do.)

Here's the official GIN link.

WTF is GIN doing actively promoting KT?
Or at the very least, why are they passively promoting him, by allowing his hype-filled copy on their official site?

Well, it seems that what's really happening -- and I'm just speculating here -- is that GIN is desperately trying to increase its membership, and they've never had a draw nearly as big as Kevin Trudeau (despite the fact that Trudeau's former b.f.f., the stupid and evil Not-Doktor Leonard Coldwell, whom Trudeau fired in spring of 2012, absurdly claimed that HE was the big attraction, and that GIN membership dropped dramatically after Coldwell's departure). So GIN is using Trudeau and his hype to boost their numbers, and he in turn is using them to keep one foot in the big Scamworld that he hopes awaits him on the "outside." (You scratch my scaly back (no offense intended to reptiles and fishes), and I'll scratch yours (and possibly stab you in it if I need to).)

As I noted above, it's apparent that GIN has never completely disavowed Kevin. He still has many fans, inside and outside of GIN. And technically it's not a violation of any court orders or government agreements (that I know of) for GIN to express support of Kevin. Furthermore, the proposed "Level VIII" Big Event is slated to take place, if it takes place at all, after Trudeau is released from prison; hence the mention that it will start in the summer of 2022. (And again, that's a definite departure from the previous breathless hint that his release will be "soon...we think it could be this year.")

But still... WTF? I'm not the only one wondering; one person told me that they thought Kevin was "banned" from GIN. But this person wasn't sure what that means, exactly. We know, of course, that Trudeau no longer has legal ownership of GIN after all the receivership and other court actions years ago. I wrote about that extensively at the time it was happening. But it does seem that Kevin Trudeau's shadow is still very much over GIN, though of course some would view it as a light rather than a shadow.

The big question remains as to whether Trudeau will continue to promote GIN after he's released, or if he's laying the groundwork for his own rival club and is planning to siphon members from GIN. I'm guessing nobody really knows the answer to that question except Kevin, who seems to be keeping all of his options open, much to the confusion of some, I'm sure. Adding to the confusion is the fact that for a few years, since he's been locked up, he has been promoting a "Science of Personal Mastery Course," to which he claims people who donate to his legal defense fund and/or subscribe to his newsletters will get free access. In a February 2016 blog post I quoted one of Kevin's numerous pleas for money:

If you can give some financial assistance for my lawyers the time is now to do so. Please go to [link to the KT Legal Defense site] and make a contribution of any amount. All proceeds go to my Attorneys. If you can help financially please do so today. Please tell others to help as well. Remember also, if you want the Nuggets of Gold monthly Newsletter and The Science of Personal Mastery Course that comes with the newsletter each month, you can get that as a gift for a contribution of just $19.95 per month or a one time annual contribution of $210 is also available. I sincerely appreciate your help.

And via Facebook, Trudeau has had his proxies promote the Science of Personal Mastery Course numerous times over the years, with the implication being that it is his own creation.

Yet in the current cross-promotion on Facebook and on the GIN site, the course in question is the Success Mastery Course, which GIN promotes as its "core GIN training on how to have, be and do anything and everything you want in life." Only paying members ($495.00 to join, and $150.00 per month thereafter) have access to this training. There are multiple levels, seemingly congruent with the original GIN vision of 12 levels, although it appears that thus far, only seven levels exist, and Level 8 is in the works.

And yet... and yet... on the page about "The Club" on the GuruKev site, one of the member benefits is clearly listed as "The Success Mastery Course (levels 1-12)."

This may lead some to ask if these courses are one and the same, or is Trudeau in fact building a foundation for a new club, but exploiting the GIN base just because he's allowed to do so? I was momentarily confused about those courses myself, having forgotten that I'd addressed the issue in this very blog years ago. (And if the blog post title is any indication, there is at least one other person who seems to assume that the two "courses" are indeed one and the same.)
 
When searching my blog archives for something else, however, I came across this April 2015 post where, under the sub-head, "Selling GIN from the clink," I wrote:

...Katie continues to spread his New-Wage/McSpirituality wisdumb from the confines of Camp Cupcake, aka FPC (Federal Prison Camp) Montgomery, Alabama. He's still apparently pooping those Nuggets of Gold out on a regular basis, along with something he calls the "Science of Personal Mastery Course," which he emphasizes is not to replace the famous Success Mastery Course (which you buy into when you join the Global Information Network (GIN)), but only to supplement it. Rest assured that via his Facebook fan page, a page which I am allowed to read but on which I am not allowed to comment, Katie is still very much pushing the club that his close buddies took over last year. But one of his main agendas, particularly with the Nuggets of Gold poop machine, is to raise money for his legal defense fund to help defray his enormous legal expenses as well as, of course, to fight for "Free Speech and Civil Liberties for all." You know Katie, the First Amendment Stuporhero. Well, Katie, if you're so enamored of free speech, why am I not allowed to write on your Facebook fan page?

The posts appear fairly frequently on Katie's Facebook page, some of them just some standard New-Wage nonsense about the Law of Attraction and so forth, and there was even a brief announcement of an estate sale that was held earlier this month to clear out his Oakbrook, Illinois McMansion (they had the Ojai, California McMansion rummage sale last year). He still generally gets hundreds of "likes" for every one of these possibly dictated-by-Katie but proxy-written posts, along with numerous fawning comments. So, even as Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, Katie still has quite the enthusiastic fan base, and if anyone can keep a good scam going from the clink, he can. If he can get around those pesky Feds when he gets out of the clink, he'll be ready to hit the ground scamming.

So it would appear that Katie's "Science of Personal Mastery Course" is not, in fact, the same as GIN's "Success Mastery Course." Regardless, I sense that there may be a little brand confusion going on here, and both GIN and Trudeau may be benefiting from the confusion.
 

* * * * *

 
Some folks may scoff at the whole idea of Kevin Trudeau being able to do much of anything upon his release from prison. They point out that there's still a civil case against him and that as soon as he is released in 2022 (or whenever), there could very well be US Marshals waiting to slap the cuffs on him again for the civil contempt case, for which he actually was jailed briefly a few times before his criminal trial and conviction.

I do wonder about the status of that very long-running civil case (1:03-cv-03904), which gave rise to what was once a $37 million-plus fine. (Here's a capsule summary of events surrounding the civil and criminal cases.)

I know that some of the big fine has been paid off through recovered assets, through the selling of some of Trudeau's pretentious life trappings, and through royalties from sales of his books and other info-frauducts (I wrote about the latter several years ago; see under the sub-head, "Katie is still on TV, and here's why). And I know that refunds have been disbursed to some of the folks who bought his diet book, The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You To Know About -- the work for which Saint Kevin was martyred. I wrote briefly about the book refunds in a June 2016 post; see under the sub-head, "Trudeau diet book scam..." (My post includes a screen shot of one person's refund check; it was a whopping $4.95!)

In short, the government has, by various means, acquired at least some of the money it was demanding, and in turn has refunded money to at least some of Trudeau's dissatisfied customers. (Ex-GIN members who were screwed out of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars may never get justice, though.)

The upshot is that Trudeau may not be in immediate danger of re-arrest when he is released in 2022, unless there are other pending charges as a result of other rumored investigations. It's hard to find up to date info on the status of these cases just by casually surfing the Net, so I may have to reactivate my PACER account. I'll do some digging, and provide updates or new posts as I get additional info.

For now, I speculate that much of Trudeau's fate regarding that civil case is dependent upon the judge who presided over that case, Robert W Gettleman, who said, back in 2014 (after Trudeau had been convicted on the criminal charge but before he was sentenced) that he might someday finally be satisfied that Trudeau was telling the truth. He added that he wasn't there yet. "I may never be convinced," Gettleman said. "Maybe when this is all over he'll go to Ukraine or St. Kitts... to enjoy his treasure."

Or maybe he'll be able to stay in the US, or travel all over the world in a big ritzy ship.

* * * * *

Back in January 2015, Business Insider published an excellent piece by Aaron Gell about Trudeau's background and his life at FPC Montgomery. Looking it over again just a while ago, I was struck by this passage:

Trudeau works in the prison kitchen, a sometimes frustrating experience for a guy who has done as much as anyone to bring the organic-food revolution to a mainstream audience. “They have a greenhouse and a bakery, and yet everything is canned!” he says incredulously. “Why not let inmates make their own food and learn a valuable trade?”

As for his own extremely valuable trade — motivational speaking — he says he’s been forbidden from doing education on any real scale. “People ask my advice and I give it, but that’s it,” he says.

But that's not quite true; despite being incarcerated Trudeau has been actively promoting his own schemes, and those of his cronies, ever since he's been locked up, dictating content that his loyal minions dutifully post on Facebook and several web sites. So this latest load of hype about "Level VIII" should come as no surprise.

In any case, regardless of whether you read the "Level VIII" message on the Facebook pages or on GIN or on both, it's the same song, different verse. It's the same tired old copy that helped launch GIN eleven years ago, the same genre of hype that was pulling in gullibles long before GIN: all those promises about the exclusive material that "has never been taught before" (except to Royalty and the Global Elites and members of seekrit societies, of course)... and the information that "they" don't want you to know about (and which Kevin is offering at enormous personal risk)... and the marvelous magickal transformations you will experience if you pledge your heart, soul, and bank account to the "teachings"... and the exciting "Bonus" that is so exclusive and marvelous that Kevin can't even tell you what it is yet... and it can all be yours if only you'll join and upgrade and, and, and...

As we (well, I) like to say on this blog: It's deja screw, all over again.

UPDATE, 31 January 2020: I don't know how I previously overlooked this, but on January 26, 2020, the day before this post was published, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Trudeau recently reached out to Judge Gettleman for guidance on how much of a huckster he can be once he gets out of the clink. But that's worthy of a blog post of its own, so here it is.