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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When Abe Husein of Kansas City, Missouri,
realized he'd been sold a bill of goods by serial scammer Kevin
Trudeau and Trudeau's Ponzi-like Global Information Network
(GIN), he did more than just get mad. Abe went to the news
department of one of his local (Kansas City, Missouri) TV
stations, KSHB-TV, with an idea for a story about this global
fraud. He spoke with Emmy-award winning investigative reporter Ryan Kath. And after three months of investigation, the story is
finally complete. It will be airing on 41 Action News on Monday,
November 12, 2012 at 6:00 PM CST.
I will provide a link to this story when it goes online, but for
now, you can watch the promo video on this public link on
KSHB-TV's Facebook page. You can also
get to that page by clicking on the graphic above, which is a
screen shot of my own Facebook Timeline shout-out.
Since 2009 I've been blogging about Trudeau and what a scammer he
is and what a scam GIN is (see list of links below). Numerous
other bloggers, commentators, and mainstream journalists --
mostly print and online journos, but some TV journos as well --
have documented Trudeau's many, many misdeeds over the years. He
has been well known as a con artist, and his nearly two-year
stint in Federal prison (1991-93) has been on public record.
Yet he has been able to go on conning, through infomercials,
online promotions, his KT Network "radio" show, and
direct-mail promotions. He has very successfully marketed himself
as a hero for free speech and a sharer of information that
"they" -- the government, Big Pharma, the food
industry, and the Illuminati -- don't want you to know about.
When GIN was launched in 2009, and promoted through infomercials
for a 14-CD set called Your Wish Is Your Command, its big selling
point was that GIN members and participants would not only be
privy to all of the seekrit information of the world, but that
they could also become almost effortlessly rich through selling
GIN memberships and other KT frauducts.
I blogged and blogged and blogged about how absurd all of this
was, apparently to no effect. (As one of my most humorously deranged
detractors has been trying to convince everyone, my blog only has two
readers, so maybe that's the problem.) In any case, almost nobody
paid any attention to me or to any of the other critics who have
much wider readership, and the GIN party went on. And on. And on.
And that's understandable, since part of Trudeau's cult tactics
was that he continually discouraged his followers from listening
to critics and naysayers.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and numerous
other government agencies and authorities had their probes up
Trudeau's assets, as they have for many years -- and that story
ain't over yet by a long shot -- but the party still went on.*
Then the disgruntled GIN members -- such as Abe -- started
grumbling, and the grumble became a roar. And who knows how loud
that roar will become?
Many people have been eagerly awaiting the
KSHB-TV 41 Action News story, including yours truly. Some have
speculated that it will mark the absolute and utter end of GIN
and of Trudeau's scamming. Frankly, I am not that optimistic.
Neat and tidy endings just don't usually happen in these cases.
Then again, I am always prepared to be pleasantly surprised. But
even if this story, with the exposure it will surely enjoy, only
knocks a dent or two in the big sick machine, it will be well
worth it.
I have not yet seen the finished story or even
any of the raw footage, but I have been told about some of the content, and I think it's going to be pretty good. So I
applaud Abe Husein, and I applaud Ryan Kath and his team, for
taking these steps. It's still all too rare for a TV station to
go after infomercial scammers in any significant way, since the
stations and networks do, after all, benefit from infomercial
revenue. This
2005 (pre-GIN) Salon.com article
discusses Trudeau's "Natural Cures" infomercials:
...one source in the direct-response
industry who asked not to be named estimated that Trudeau is
spending a million dollars a week on national cable and could
also be spending another half a million on broadcast
channels. The source suggested that Trudeau’s return from
that investment would be about $2 million to $4 million a
week. “He’s got the formula down and he knows how to
trick people,” says the source. “And he’s got enough
money to do it. The FTC can’t stop him because the amount
they fine him is nothing compared to what he takes in.”
And that was in 2005, before GIN and the Your
Wish Is Your Command infomercials, even before the "Debt
Cures" infomercials.
So again, good on Kansas City's 41 Action News for digging into
Trudeau's biggest money grab. At the very least, I think that
this story will be, as the punch line for everyone's favorite lawyer joke
goes, "a good start."
PS ~ For some interesting, detailed
documentation on the fall of GIN, see Bernie
O'Mahony's GINtruth.com.
* Here's Salty Droid's perspective about the Feds and the
likelihood of "Caging Kevin Trudeau."
More True-dough on this Whirled:
* * * * *
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You know what? I just realized that I've been
smiling all day. I've been smiling partly because of the results
of yesterday's U.S. presidential election. I don't hold out any
great idealistic hopes or anything, but for several reasons the guy who won is, in my
not very humble opinion, a better choice than the other guy.
As usual, my pal Salty Droid nails it about some of the reasons
Romney would be pretty bad for the US of A. One reason is that, as the little
fake robot put it in today's post:
... Mitt Romney is from Scamworld. That article on The Verge :: or this one on Mother Jones :: or this one on Salon
:: or this crap right here on The Droid about the kid torturing assholes ... barely even touch the surface of it.
All righty, then!
There's another reason I'm smiling.
Award-winning journalist Craig Malisow at the Houston Press became
interested in doing a story about the cultish Access
Consciousness, in part from poking around on my Whirled. As you
regulars know, I've been blogging continuously about Access since
2007. It seemed nobody was really that interested. There
was a bit of scuttlebutt earlier this year when retired NFL
player Ricky Williams made the news with his Access kids'
activities, but that died down.
Then Craig stumbled on my blog while researching something else,
and he got interested in Access. And today the Press
published his terrific cover story about Access: "What's Behind Gary Douglas's Scientology
Knockoff?"
It's good to know that the wackadoodle Access is FINALLY getting
more mainstream press coverage. Craig actually did all of that
due-diligence journo stuff, including a lot of digging and
researching and talking to people on the phone (I HATE talking to
people on the phone) -- though oddly enough, many of the
Accessories just didn't want to talk.
Funny, they don't seem to have any problem with sending in
anonymous or pseudonymous comments to my blog, telling me how
ignorant I am while boasting about how free and open Access
encourages people to be. Some of them, including Access founder
Gary Douglas himself, have even fake-praised me for raising
questions about Access because it's all part of a healthy, open,
honest convo that encourages people to explore and make their own
choices, blah blah blah.
But few of them -- including a quite prominent Houston society
type named Curry Glassell, who claims to be an Access facilitator -- wanted to actually talk to a serious
journalist doing a serious piece. Nevertheless, Craig turned out
a fine story. He was able to find out more about Gary Douglas'
Scientology roots, and other tidbits from Gary's past, than I
ever could with my half-baked research efforts. I couldn't be
happier.
I often think that "alternative" weekly newspapers are
the last best hope of print journalism. Kudos to Craig and to the
Houston Press.
So... big smiles all around.
Here again is the link to Craig Malisow's Access story: http://www.houstonpress.com/2012-11-08/news/gary-douglass-access-consicousness/
Here's the print-friendly version: http://www.houstonpress.com/content/printVersion/3165798/
And here are links to some of my own Access-related offerings:
Oh, yes, and here's the link to Andrew
Blanford's wonderful Access Schism site.
Just launched this past June, Access Schism is an excellent
resource for ex-Accessories, the people who are worried about
current Accessories, and the idly curious.
PS ~ There's another big mainstream media story coming up about
another one of my favorite snark targets, any day now. This isn't
my project but I have been interested in it and have supported it from the beginning. I
am not at liberty to talk about it in detail at the moment,
but...well, any day now.
* * * * *
Now more than ever, your donation is needed
to help keep this Whirled spinning.
Click here to donate via PayPal or debit/credit
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If PayPal, be sure to specify that your contribution is a gift. Thank
you!
Some of you have been asking about a post that
I published the other day, but that now appears to be missing in
action. Titled "Teutonic Twerp versus the Cosmic Slut,"
it was mainly about some of the ludicrous lies that one of my more recent snargets
(snark targets) had been posting recently on Facebook about "the cosmic
slut." Little Snarget made up stories about
"the cosmic slut" being a former prostitute who is now
being paid by Big Pharma and/or the medical profession to defame
heroic healers such as himself. Though no real name was
mentioned, it seemed pretty clear to whom he was referring with
all of that "cosmic slut" stuff. So I felt compelled to
write about it, and I even posted screen shots of his libelous
declarations.
Not long after Little Snarget's own libelous posts were
published, they were taken down by the person on whose Facebook
Timeline he'd posted them. A couple of days after I published my blog post about the matter, however, Little Snarget posted
another libelous Facebook screed, alleging that "the cosmic
slut" -- who, he apparently felt compelled to repeat, is a
former hooker -- had given a "bad STD" to the guy who'd
informed Little Snarget about her. Little Snarget vowed to pursue
justice against the "cosmic slut" and to make her wish
she had never heard of him. He bragged that he can do this because he is rich and the "cosmic slut" is poor. He said he will really get started
getting even with her beginning this Wednesday (tomorrow), when
he is finally "done with" Kevin Trudeau. He figured Trudeau
would be arrested today, and then he could go about his business
of Operation Cleanup. (See the PS to this post.)
Little Snarget added that the "cosmic slut" is no doubt responsible for
many people dying of cancer because she is out to stop people
like him who cure cancer naturally. He called her a
cancer and a tumor that needs to be eliminated from society, for everyone's own
good and safety. And he called for people to send in any
information they had about the "cosmic slut." That
sounded amazingly like an implied death threat or an incitement
to do violence against someone. Not cool. Not cool at all.
And yes, I saved screen shots of that one too, as did a few other
folks.
That post was taken down too, as well it should have been. End of
story? Maybe, maybe not.
I had several reasons for taking my own post down. It is probably
temporary, and the post has not been destroyed or deleted; it is
merely waiting in the wings, along with the supportive comments
that some of you were kind enough to send. And I hasten to assure
you that none of this has anything to do with my being directly
threatened by Little Snarget. I am taking a wait and see attitude
about the entire thing. However, if he does threaten me further,
either with legal action or something worse, and/or if he
continues to spread lies about me, then I will do more than
merely re-publish the post.
It seems that I have a very high tolerance for this kind of thing
-- maybe a higher tolerance than I should have. I'm not just
talking about my tolerance for actionable bits of drivel,
but also my tolerance for apparent misogyny. One of the
commenters to my now-temporarily-hidden posts called out the little
man's lies as a clear sign of the contempt for women that,
unfortunately, still prevails on the Interwebz as well as in
society at large. (And lest anyone attempts to point out that Little Snarget just luvs the ladies, I'll point out that compulsive/relentless/aggressive womanizing and
misogyny are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they often co-exist quite happily.)
The misogyny I am talking about sometimes expresses itself in attempted "slut
shaming," which is particularly silly (and probably actionable) when it is founded
on a total fabrication. I have always tried to be balanced
regarding these issues, and I make an honest effort not to see
sexism or misogyny in every little negative thing that is said
about an individual woman. But in this case, given the context
and given what I know of my little detractor, I think my
commenter may very well have been right.
In any case, I just want to reassure you that this issue is not
dead. Evil has not won.
And speaking of evil not winning... My pal Salty Droid has just
announced that he is putting blogging on the back burner (sort
of) for a few months while he digs into some other projects, some
of which he can and has talked about, some of which he can't talk
about yet, and all of which, I imagine, have something to do with
fighting the forces of Scamworld. He announced it on today's post.
If you don't mind my quoting myself (it does
seem rather vain, but I've never pretended to be anything else),
I'll repeat what I wrote as a comment to this post on his blog:
As people sometimes like to say to
comfort themselves when they’re not sure that everything is
really okay: “It’s all good.” But in this case I
suspect that it really is all good. What’s good about this
is not only that Jason will be more able to focus on Actually
Getting Something Done (even as the little Droid continues to
bleep around in the background and cough up some blog posts
as the mood strikes him).
But there’s something else good about
this too, potentially: the fact that it may create a false
sense of complacency in Scamworld.
I can imagine, for instance, the
Wimberley Mafia, or what’s left of it, high-fiving now that
the pain in their collective a$$ is taking a bit of a hiatus.
Of course if there’s only one member of the Wimberley Mafia
left, as I rather suspect, the high-fiving will be somewhat
difficult. But maybe that one remaining member can silently
congratulate himself that all of his Ho’oponopono’ing and
cleaning and clearing and his yagyas finally worked. (Worked
the way they did with Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike, is
more like it.)
And maybe the smarmy little not-doctor
with the hands-on healings and the 92% cancer cure rate will
crow that it was HIS doing that made the little robot stand
down. I’ll watch the Facebooks for signs of that.
And maybe the Internet Marketing
Syndicate members will be breaking out the champagne and the
hired escorts and saying that they “won” at last.
But evil has not won, and won’t. And
contrary to appearances, it isn’t even getting a reprieve.
Yeah. What the "cosmic slut" said.
PS ~ Today was the day that Kevin Trudeau was supposed to have
had a Very Important Court Hearing. I never could get the details
about exactly when it was supposed to be, but several people said
that True-dough could very well end up being arrested today.
Little Snarget was one of the people crowing the most loudly
about this, and taking credit for it to boot. Well, now it is
moot, because apparently Trudeau's lawyers were able to buy him a
little more time. Reportedly, the hearing is now scheduled for
November 20. As I think I may have mentioned a few times
before... no neat and tidy endings on this one. But evil has
still not won.
More True-dough (and Little Snarget) on
this Whirled:
* * * * *
Now more than ever, your donation is needed
to help keep this Whirled spinning.
Click here to donate via PayPal or debit/credit
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If PayPal, be sure to specify that your contribution is a gift. Thank
you!
As many of you may know, time is running out
for serial scammer Kevin Trudeau to pay his $37.6 million fine to
the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). As reported on this blog late last week, the FTC had until October 15 to respond to the latest
contempt motions related to this matter, which Trudeau has been
fighting for years. Yesterday, October 18, I saw a copy of that
response, as well as corroborating documents, including a
statement from Trudeau's former sales and marketing director,
Peter Wink. My pal Bernie at GINtruth.com put the docs on his
site; you can find them on this post.
If you want to get right to it, and haven't seen it already, the meat of the matter is right here in the FTC's
October 15 response (again, the link is
courtesy GINtruth.com). Here's a preview of what's covered in
this 17-page document:
There is an amusing twist to this tale. True-dough has often
bragged about his billionaire status and lavish lifestyle, using
his "perfect" life as a selling point for GIN. However,
according to the October 15 document as well as this July 13 document, he has
repeatedly pleaded poverty as a reason he cannot pay the big FTC
fine. If this is beginning to sound familar to some of you, it's
no doubt because that was the same excuse that Mr. Harmonic Wealth
himself, James Arthur Ray, used for not being able to post bail
when he was first arrested in early 2010.
Turds of a feather, again.
More recently, True-dough has offered to pay the fine in rather
paltry installments, as you'll see if you read the October 15
document. (Here's that link again, for your convenience.)
On the July document, the FTC recommended incarceration for
True-dough as the only way to get him to pay the fine. In 22
pages, that document outlined many of the suspicious (to say the
least) things that Trudeau has been doing with his multiple bank
accounts -- namely, concealment of assets, and even what the
writers of the FTC document, described as "money
laundering" at a casino. The October document basically
confirms the information in the July document, and repeats the
call for incarceration.
So... either Trudeau has been lying to his followers about being
rich, or he is lying to the FTC about being poor. I concur with
the FTC's conclusions that it is the latter, and there are
several exhibits to back that conclusion, including Peter Wink's statement, which includes a
picture of True-dough's McCastle in the Chicago area. Peter goes into detail about his personal observations
regarding True-dough's lavish lifestyle.
Yet until recently True-dough has been telling his followers that
he will not pay the FTC fine because he feels it is unjust. Not a
word about his inability to pay because he is just a poor boy.
And even at this late hour, he is framing it all as a fight for your
rights. In
this October 18, 2012 video, you'll
find him once again playing the First Amendment
Stuporhero/free-speech martyr role to the hilt. (He even compares himself to Christ on the cross, invoking the "Forgive them, for they know not what they do" theme.) Looking pale and sincere, he goes on and on about how "they" are just out to get him, to kill him figuratively if not literally. As Bruce Willis
said in one of my favorite movies, Disney's The Kid,
"Somebody call a waaaaaaaaambulance!"
Fake heroes, real opportunists, and grass-roots informants
The other amusing twist to this tale -- well, at least it is
amusing to me and perhaps to a few of my allies -- is that
not-Doctor Leonard Coldwell, the former Bernd Klein of the
Republic of Germany (I first wrote about him here), is crowing loudly about
this matter on Facebook and elsewhere, such as on $28-a-head
conference calls. Ever since he got kicked out of GIN and lost his nearly $17,000-per-month speaker fee, not to mention any other residuals and perks he might
have been enjoying, Lenny has been dissing his former b.f.f.
Kevin Trudeau. But his crowing has become even louder as
Trudeau's possible arrest becomes more of a possibility.
For instance, there was this Facebook post on October 12, the day
that many of us received the July 13 FTC document that called for
Trudeau's arrest:
And he has written other similar Facebook posts since then.
Yet what Coldwell continues to ignore in his posts is the fact
that if -- or rather when -- GIN is shut down, and when or if
Trudeau gets arrested, it will be
because of investigations by the FTC and other agencies and
parties who have had Trudeau's number for years, since long
before GIN even existed.
All of the "justice fighters" on Facebook had nothing to do with it. Lenny's ranting had ZILCH to do with it. He
would no doubt still be happily sucking on the teat if he hadn't
been thrown out. I'm not suggesting that all of his information is inaccurate. He obviously had some inside information about Trudeau, and continues to get it from some of his buddies. But he is not the heroic fighter for truth and freedom in this matter that he claims to be.
GIN is just the latest and possibly greatest scheme to be dreamed
up by lifelong con artist Kevin Trudeau. But it is the FTC, et
al. who are going to get him -- "The Man," in other
words -- as more than one person, totally outside of the ex-GIN
Facebook and ex-KT-employee scuttlebutt circles, indicated to me
months ago. No, I haven't known all of the details. But I have
had a very good general idea about what was happening. The FTC
documents are just confirmation of what I already knew or
suspected, but didn't want to run my mouth off about prematurely.
So I can't stress it strongly enough: Leonard Coldwell's
moonbatty rants on Facebook and on his web sites and on any of
his wingnutty blogs or radio shows have had nothing to do with
stopping Trudeau. It is, pure and simple, and for better or
worse, the government and other authorities that will stop Kevin
Trudeau.
What makes this particularly amusing is that, as we know (and as
I've mentioned a few times here and on other forums), Coldwell
is no fan of the U.S. government.
On more than one occasion he has, however, recommended to ex-GINs
that they contact the FTC, as well as the Illinois Attorney
General and other authorities. So as I've also noted before, he
has no problem recommending these authorities to nab his
ex-buddy, but he insists they have no power to stop him and his
wildly-exaggerated cancer-cure claims, or anything else he has
done under the banner of his phony degrees.
In any case, I think it's a pretty safe bet that most of Lenny's
squawking about Trudeau and GIN has been chiefly motivated by a desire for revenge for
being thrown out of GIN, as well as a desperate desire to
suck the ex-GIN into his own sales funnels. There was this the
other day on Facebook, for example (and between you and me:
despite the fact that I know there are indeed real horror stories
with GIN, that whole "Roy" tale sounds a little bit
contrived).
This was followed by a few Lenny links:
Can you say "crass opportunism," boys and girls?
That said, I do want to acknowledge Bernie at GINtruth.com for
the hard work he has done on his blog to document the scam that
is GIN, without any agenda to sell people worthless $20k
"certification" courses and whatnot. I also give credit to Abe Husein for his grass-roots
efforts, beginning early this year, to inform GIN members that
something smelled rotten in GINmark. Abe has initiated other
efforts that I suspect will pay off very soon as well. And certainly I credit Bob Trudeau, Kevin's beleaguered older brother, who has shared many insights and experiences, and is working on a book about those experiences.
I give
due credit to Peter Wink as well for helping disseminate information, including the FTC documents,
after he left Trudeau's employment in late April of this year. I also give him credit for any past or present assistance he may have lent to
investigators in an effort to keep anyone else from being scammed
by Kevin Trudeau. Better late than never.
In all honesty, however, there is a bit of an elephant in the room regarding Peter's willingness to promote Trudeau for two and a half years when, by his own admission, he has known about Trudeau's criminal past since the 1990s. Certainly he knew about it when he went to work for Trudeau and GIN in late 2009. Despite my conversations with him about this, I still find it difficult to believe that he truly thought the leopard had changed its spots. I also find it difficult to believe that Peter ever bought the "Secret Brotherhood" and "secret GIN council" tall tales at all, so if he was responsible for promoting these stories, and creating the marketing copy that promoted them, then it could be said that he was part of the ruse too. I am not suggesting for a moment that he knowingly participated in criminal activities, but for two-and-a-half years he promoted someone who had a past history of doing very dodgy and often criminal things.
Post-GIN, I think Peter is
making a huge mistake (and I am being charitable when I call it a "mistake") by continuing to associate with
and profit from people such as Lenny Coldwell. Peter is well
aware of my feelings, but this is one of those things about which we continue to agree to disagree. Peter has indicated numerous times that we should concentrate on Trudeau and that everything else, including my criticism of Coldwell, Ron Ball, Peter Ragnar, et al., is a distraction. But I have always had a broader focus than Trudeau; after all, Trudeau is far from the only cog in "the big, sick machine." There are many others, and the people who promote them and profit from them are, in my opinion, contributing to the problem.
Convo with a GIN drinker
Needless to say, there has been quite a bit of scuttlebutt about
these matters on Facebook and on various blogs over the past
week. Last Friday evening, hours after the July FTC docs hit, I
received an email from a Trudeau fan and GIN member. It was the
beginning of a prolonged conversation, which, in the interest of
presenting "the other side," I will share here. And in
the interest of preserving my correspondent's privacy, I will
just call him... Dick (not his real name).
Hi Connie. Thanks for speaking out on
Dr Lenny. Kevin Trudeau is refusing to pay the 37 million
dollars because then he admits to doing wrong and freedom of
speech for this nation is in jeopardy. If you wanted to
write a book, they can stop it. What's wrong with saying a
diet is 'easy'? Know of anyone that is more on the consumer
side that KT? Thanks
Dick
"Dr. Lenny," of course, is Leonard
Coldwell. I was not sure if Dick was referring to my speaking out
about Lenny on my blog or on Facebook, or both. I've also
participated in discussions accompanying the Leonard Coldwell posts on Salty Droid's blog, though I somehow doubt Dick reads Salty Droid. But in
any case, of course I had to respond to Dick:
I understand your concerns, Dick, but
Trudeau's misdeeds go much further and deeper than his
declaration that his diet based on the Simeons hCG protocol
is easy. It is a gross over-simplification to say that the
FTC's case is based totally on that declaration. That is a
story KT tells people to win them to his side, with hopes
that they will contribute to his Stand With KT Legal
Fund. As I noted on my blog Whirled Musings, in both my
latest post (October 12) and my "First Amendment Stuporhero" post
(August 2011), I recognize
that the issues are not all black and white. I know the
government does dodgy and even illegal things all the time. I
too worry about the limitations being put on speech and
expression, and I think I understand the gist of the Cato
institute arguments on behalf of Trudeau. I also wonder if
throwing him in jail is the best solution, since he is not a
violent criminal.
But IMO Trudeau is a serial scammer, and his scams outweigh
any "whistle blowing" or "consumer
advocacy" or "free speech advocacy" in which
he has ever been engaged. He has a lot of people convinced
that he is fighting "for the people" when in
reality, he is only fighting for Kevin Trudeau.
As far as I am concerned, he and Coldwell are birds of a
feather. They were friends for 20 years (according to
statements both of them have made), and Trudeau had to have
known about the phoniness of Coldwell's creds, if not all of
the allegations of Coldwell's personal misconduct. Only when
things finally came to a head, for various reasons that I've
heard, was Coldwell booted out of GIN. And that's when
Coldwell started ranting against Trudeau. And then we've had Fred van Liew cluck-cluck-clucking over Coldwell.... so I'm just
sitting back shaking my head at the whole pot-meets-kettle
scenario that is being played out over and over again.
In a nutshell: believe many good people have been sucked in
by Trudeau's charms and trickery, but he is no hero.
CC
Dick responded:
I understand where you are coming from
I think. But you sound like you're working for the FDA and
FTC. Simply, KT is the biggest advocate for the consumer.
"They" want you to think he's a scammer. Let me
know of anyone he's scammed. I don't want to argue about it
though.
Dick
And then, a little later, before I'd had time
to respond, this came in...
lol Fred Van Liew clucking. I stay
off of FB. My group is growing in GIN and for the people
that stay off of FB. GIN's not perfect, but has helped a
lot and made people alot of money. I've made more than I
put in. But, it's not for everyone. I think Coldwell went
crazy. Thanks Connie.
Dick
Actually, thanks to some of the intrepid GIN rebels I've
"met" on Facebook, I was well aware of True-dough's
admonitions about wasting time on Facebook (more on that in a
little while). At any rate it was getting late by then, and I had
real-life stuff to do, so I waited till the next day to make a
point I should prolly have made on my initial email:
Hi, Dick:
One matter I forgot to mention yesterday is that according to
people who have listened to Kevin's October 12 GIN Member
audio update (not the Affiliate update, but the Member
update), Kevin said in that audio that he will be paying the
$37.6 million FTC fine soon.
My sense is that if this is true he has decided to pay the
fine as a last-ditch desperate effort to stay out of jail. He
is rapidly running out of options. It would not necessarily
be an admission of wrongdoing and of course he will spin it
all for his loyal followers so you guys will get even more
angry at the government and will be inspired to give him even
more money.
My guess is that for numerous reasons, jail could be imminent
even if he pays that fine, but almost certainly he will land
there if he does not pay. According to a July 13, 2012 court
document I read (and linked to on my October 12
Whirled Musings blog post), the FTC has recommended incarceration for KT
to coerce him to pay the fine. Lacking payment, they want him
to turn over all of his records to prove that he does not
have the funds to pay the fine and that his claimed
impoverishment was not his own doing.
The document says that KT has made the latter claim: that on
numerous occasions he has claimed poverty as the reason he
has not paid.
The FTC refutes this claim -- outlining proof that Trudeau
lives a luxurious lifestyle; presenting hard evidence that he
has worked diligently to conceal assets in the US and
overseas and even used a casino to launder money; and that on
numerous occasions Trudeau has simply said he refuses to pay
the fine and will never pay it.
Now, admittedly some people have gone overboard crowing about
this since Friday (Oct. 12), shouting from the rooftops that
the FTC has called for "immediate" arrest of KT,
and implying that he will either be dragged away in chains at
any moment, or that he already has been. One person who has
gone overboard is of course that nutcake Coldwell.
These people seemingly ignore the fact that the arrest
recommendation is more than three months old. The
recommendation for arrest probably carries quite a lot of
clout but since KT has not yet been arrested, my guess is
that his attorneys bought him some time.
In any case there will be another hearing about this matter
on October 24 -- and the link to a document about that is
also on my latest blog post ...
Bottom line: Unless I miss my guess, before the month is out,
KT will either pay that FTC fine, or end up in jail, or
both.
BTW, the FTC and no doubt several other agencies and
authorities are wise to GIN as an MLM and get-rich scheme --
a get-rich scheme for KT, that is. If that July FTC doc is
any indication, they are on GIN like flies on stink. The
document mentions Nevis as a notorious asset haven, for
instance -- something I have been pointing out for a long
time as just one of many red flags for GIN members.
My sense is that GIN's days are numbered, and of course I am
not alone in this opinion. I am not surprised, through. I
have been blogging since late 2009 about what a scam and a
sham GIN is. Now the evidence is surfacing to indicate that I
was right all along. But I don't credit myself with any great
discernment capabilities or investigative prowess. The
writing was on the wall from the beginning. The problem is
that some people were so blinded by KT's light that they
could not even see the wall.
CC
Dick responded:
Thank you. That's too bad we live in
times of sensorship. Have you ever listened to the Your
Wish CDs?
Dick
Dick was referring to Your Wish Is Your
Command, the 14-CD upsell for GIN, and the product that
True-dough sold on some of his infomercials. I replied:
I guess we disagree on the definition
of "censorship." While the government often
over-steps, so too do the hucksters such as Trudeau, who use
their "right to free speech" to deceive others in
order to get their trust and their money. As I've noted, the
issues are not all black and white, but to look upon Trudeau
as some kind of hero simply is grossly inaccurate and quite
unwise. YMMV, of course.
No, I've not yet listened to YWIYC. Someone sent me a set
some time back, and I have read extensive transcripts that
others have taken the time to publish, and it seems to me
that it's just the same old same old motivational stuff
(which is freely available elsewhere), peppered heavily with
Trudeau's earnest attempts to suck people into the GIN
vortex.
CC
And that's when Dick was sure he had me:
Just as I suspected, you didn't listen
to the cds. Therefore you cannot have an opinion on them.
If you know wher to look, you can find information that is on
the cds, but they're presented in a special way so to be
usable for the average person. That's why they have changed
thousands of lives and GIN grew so fast and will continue to
grow. The world is ready for this information. Also, it's
only kindergarden, the better information is in the GIN
levels. 99% of the negative people were only free
affiliates or weak Level Is. [Name of one of the GIN
rebels] is one of them. He tried to cheat to make a
platinum promotion and got caught. My platinum check has
doubled in the last month.
Thanks for your information. Take care.
Dick
I responded:
Oh, Dick. Trudeau WANTS you to believe
that if you keep throwing more money at him you will be able
to obtain advanced levels of knowledge. If indeed GIN is
growing, which I doubt, it is only growing because of
Trudeau's powers of persuasion, and his uncanny ability to
dangle the carrot of "more info" that will be
available at the next level. I can't believe that educated
grownups are still buying this. My opinions about Trudeau
and GIN have almost nothing to do with what [the named GIN
rebel] did or didn't do. I've been through this argument in
great detail with another GIN drinker, and have also
discussed it with the GIN rebel himself, so I think I know
what is going on. It appears to me that GIN was set up so
people COULD "cheat" their way to Platinum -- and
IMO this was done as a short term money grab for Trudeau.
Whether the GIN rebel deserved or didn't deserve his Platinum
bonus, he did have the courage to rock the boat when few of
the other members were doing it.
And this doesn't even touch on the other dodgy promotional
gimmicks that have been presented in the time since GIN came
into being -- the unfulfilled Lazy Man leads, the
extravagantly pricey "Inner Circle"
flopportunities, the $10k Summer Bonanza bonuses that were
supposed to be paid months ago, and the like.
So, while I take issue with the GIN rebel's giving Coldwell a
pass, a fact of which he is well aware (though I understand
why he is doing it), and I will just have to leave it up to
others with a better understanding of all of the issues to
decide if the GIN rebel and others who have complained do or
do not deserve their bonuses, I applaud his efforts to inform
people of the scam that is GIN. I will concede that the
YWIYC CDs presented widely available information,
misinformation, and self-help material in a special way --
but ONLY to sell GIN, not to change people's lives in any way
except to empty their bank accounts while replenishing
Kevin's. It's brilliant marketing, though. It seems to me
that the gist of your argument is that I have no right to an
opinion because I have not yet listened to the CDs, but I had
Trudeau's number years ago and don't have to listen to YWIYC
to know he is still a scammer and that GIN is a scam. (And
truly, do you REALLY believe those tall tales about his
membership in a "Secret Brotherhood?")
If I may ask a personal question, how much money have you
invested in GIN -- including membership levels (if
applicable), tools, products, attending events, etc. -- and
how much money have you earned as a direct result? And since
time is money, how much time have you invested in GIN
activities, including trying to persuade others to join GIN?
CC
Dick came back:
I don't want argue. I was hoping you'd
be unbiased. I'll give you my money report soon. I still
don't know of anyone who didn't get paid for what they were
supposed to get nor anyone who did not get money back from
the lazy men OT Hotleads. I agree, they shouldn't have given
the lazymen to only a couple people in the beginning. Spread
it out.
Dick
I was getting a little bored with the exchange,
and really didn't expect a money report from Dick. I wanted to
end on a peaceful note, so I wrote:
Thanks, Dick. You seem like a good
person; I hope you don't lose too much in the long run from
your involvement with GIN.
CC
But... lo and behold, back came Dick, spouting
some real imaginary numbers:
I'm a small platinum but I've made 3
times what I put in. You won't hear the success stories on FB
because most of the successful people (who do the work) do
not waste time on FB. I put in about 20 hours a week. I
don't want to hurt your feelings, but you are not qualified
to make opinions about the upgrades and inner circle and
things. Have you ever run a successful business or
anything? GIN has paid millions and millions out to the
downline. about the 10 thousand bonus? I got 16 and put
some of it towards a free cruise for me and the wife and a
free trip to Nashville coming this week and still have 10
grand coming. What are they going to say after it's paid?
You're taking information from a few level I weaklings and
losers in life and using it as gospel. The absolute basic
principles in life for those who want to succeed is to stay
positive. At least not negative about others.
Dick
Yeah, I've heard about how KT -- or KY, as some
of his detractors would have it -- has advised that people who
spend time on Facebook are losers. Well, tell that to Fred Van
Loony and scads of other GIN drinkers who spend a great deal of
time on Facebook. In fact, tell that to True-dough himself, who
apparently thinks it is okay to spend four hours a day
Facebooking, Tweeting, blogging, and so forth as long as you are
doing it on his behalf. Thanks to Abe Husein for this little snippet video that captures Trudeau
giving contradictory advice on two separate member update audios. [NOTE: This video has since been removed, apparently due to harassment from GIN forces. ~CC, 10-23-12]
In any case I felt obligated to respond to Dick (and I didn't
mention the video linked to above because it didn't exist yet) [and doesn't exist any more, at least not on YouTube ~CC, 10-23-12]:
Don't worry, you're not hurting my
feelings. I have been successfully self employed for many
years -- some lean years, some good ones. I am happy with
what I do. I agree Facebook is often a waste of time. But
again, my opinions about Trudeau AND GIN are based on many
factors, and have little to do with what the people on
Facebook are saying. I have been writing about Trudeau and
GIN on my blog since 2009 and only got wind of the GIN
disenfranchised this past May. I have taken nothing they say
as gospel.
Are you saying that you got paid $16,000 in the 2010 Summer
Bonanza bonus deal? The one where if you joined in July of
2010, and remained a member for two years running, you would
get $10,000? http://www.prlog.org/10774018-gin-council-approved-july-2010-summer-sales-bonanza.html
(Which, I presume, since you said you got $16k, would mean
that you signed up three people during that time who also
qualified?)
Did you actually GET that other $10,000 you say you have
coming?
Just curious: Are you an Inner Circle member?
CC
Dick answered:
You better be wrong about KT!:) Yes, I
signed up 3 that qualified. I'm using the bonuses for those
3 because they give you an extra 500 for each total of 7500,
for upgrades and free events. And I have 10 in cash
coming. Yes, it should have been here already, but give it
some time. Should be here by November or November at the
latest.
My brother is an Inner Circle Member. Highest Level. Been
by Kt's house.
I can let you listen to an affiliate audio update addressing
some things if you want.
Dick
A little later he sent me this email, accompanied
by a link to the latest weekly Affiliate Update from True-dough.
See if this works. This is a weekly
update given to free affiliates addressing a couple things
we're talking about.
Dick
I thanked him, and the next day I resumed our convo.
Hi, Dick:
You do know, of course, that it is on the Members weekly
update (for October 12, 2012), rather than the Affiliates
weekly update, that Kevin said he will be paying the $37
million-plus fine soon, right? IMO it is rather disingenuous
of him not to mention that little matter on the freebie
update as well, but then it makes sense, as the free
Affiliate material is more geared towards getting undecided
people to sign up for a paid membership. My sense is that it
wouldn't do to let the non-paying affiliates know that the
fearless leader may be capitulating to the FTC; it might
discourage them from signing up to become a paid GIN
member.
I have a few more questions about your interests in GIN, if
you don't mind. Actually this is more about your brother. You
say he is an Inner Circle member. Did he join at the $50,000
level or during the $75,000 promotion? Has he received any
real benefits, beyond having been to Kevin Trudeau's leased
home in the Chicago area (for which Trudeau pays $12k a month
in rent)?
Does your brother have a family or someone for whom he is
responsible, and if so, to your knowledge are they
comfortable with him spending $50k or $75k to be part of
Trudeau's "inner circle?" Just curious.
I can imagine that as an Inner Circle member your brother
would have even more of an interest than you in believing in
GIN and Trudeau -- and equally as important, in convincing
others to believe -- since he has put out so much money. KT
and his followers love to ask, "Who do you listen
to?" If you listen to your brother you might consider
that his vested interest may be blinding him to some of the
realities of what is really going on.
CC
Well, Dear Ones, I have to say that apparently
this not sit well with Dick, who shot back:
Connie. If you knew what I knew, you
would laugh at yourself. Your so very unqualified to even ask
such questions. You have no credibility. A guy who's sold 50
million books and all his businesses has plenty of money.
Kevin does not need GIN. You do. You can call me if you'd
like to discuss this further, but I'll just be debating with
someone who does not matter.
Dick
I did not respond, due to being occupied with real-life stuff
again. It was fun stuff, so fun that it almost made up for the
heartbreaking, gut-wrenching revelation that I do not matter. But
I did notice that Dick did not answer the questions I asked about
his brother. I suppose they really were none of my business.
A little later Dick sent this:
There's a good Rats in your head audio
for you that just came down. Connie, focus on the winners.
Dick
The rats that are in my head, and yours,
according to Kevin True-dough, are those negative naysayers such
as the mainstream media and so forth. This audio has provided the
GIN-soaked minions with yet another mindless cliche to fight the
growing legion of critics.
I responded to Dick:
Lots of people hate rats, but rats are
smart animals. They are survivors. At the very least, they
are smart enough to try to escape a sinking ship.
And my guess is that the GINtanic is sinking fast, and
Trudeau's crew is well aware of it. But they will continue
to reassure the passengers as the orchestra plays
its favorite tune, "Nearer My Fraud to Thee."
CC
For the record, though I did not mention this
to Dick, I think rats can be pretty darn cute. At any rate, Dick was clearly not amused by my reply,
and responded:
Again Connie. You're unqualified and
broke.
Dick
And then when I didn't reply, I got this:
LOL Gintantic, I heard that one
before. Let's just wait and see. I appreciate you
emailing with me. I have to go now. I love that you're so
passionate about things. Take care. Let's stop emailing
and see, thanks.
Dick
Yes, Dick, you may very well have heard
'GINtanic' from me, either on my blog (I think it was back in May when I first used it), or somewhere on Facebook. In any event, I honored
Dick's request to not email him any more.
But then, just a couple of days ago, I got this:
Here is the audio! I'll let you
respond once after you listen to this since I bothered you
first:) I know I can't change your thinking on GIN, your
beliefs were extablished years at on Trudeau. But again,
you're getting your information from 3rd parties that never
really had much skin in the game. Most of the positive and
successful ones have no time for FB and arguing. I'd like to
go on there and talk about Coldwell and his overpriced
products, but nah.
Dick
Embedded in the message was an email announcing Trudeau's
"rats in your head" audio. The link has been quite
widely distributed, so I have no qualms about posting it here. So here it is.
Dick is, of course, quite wrong about people who don't have
"skin in the game" not being qualified to give
information about something. Sometimes not having "skin in
the game" allows one to look at things much more
objectively. Having said that, I think it was mighty big of Dick
to "let" me respond once after I listened to the audio
he sent.
My response is this blog post.
I suppose I owe Dick a debt of gratitude not only for providing
me with an easy blog post, but also for reiterating all of the
most common pro-GIN arguments concisely so I don't have to
re-invent the wheel. Honestly, though -- Dick, L.E., and the many
others who have tried to talk some sense into my rat-filled head
-- I wish all of y'all well, and if you need moral support when
the GINtanic finally sinks, I'm here. So
is GINtruth.com.
Meanwhile, many of the pro-GIN troops are now gathering at the
GIN Family Reunion in Nashville, which goes from today through
Sunday, October 21 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. There has been some speculation about whether or not
True-dough will even show up at the event, but I rather think he
will. After all, word is that he has another ground-floor bizop
for them! (Prolly has something to do with the cartons and
cartons of expired KT Daily Vitamins supplements that he can't
get rid of.) I have a feeling, however, that Nashville, and
post-Nashville, will prove to be very...um... interesting. And I
will be sure to provide links, as soon as I get them.
For now, though, here's the deal, as I see it from my Whirled: It's
more likely than not that eventually Trudeau will end up in jail, or even
prison, for who knows how long, on who knows how many charges.
The contempt charges related to the FTC fine are just a small
part of it. Other investigations have been ongoing; I know that
much.
Beyond that, I am not going to mouth off with predictions
about exactly when and where GIN will meet its demise and Trudeau
will be stopped from scamming (at least he will be stopped for a
while; remember, prison didn't stop him before). It's just a
matter of time, though, because, as I have been writing for
years, Trudeau is a scammer and GIN is a scam.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to go feed those rats, because
they are making quite the racket.
PS added on Monday, 22 October 2012: As I have noted before, citing this August 17, 2012 document, a status hearing had been scheduled for this coming
Wednesday, October 24, 2012, to determine if an evidentiary
hearing is required in connection with the FTC's Motion to hold
Defendant Trudeau in Contempt. To misquote something Biblical,
"There will be hearings and rumors of hearings..." More
recently I have heard, but presently have nothing to link to
substantiating it, that there will be an arraignment on Tuesday,
October 30, 2012, presumably to make a decision about such
matters as whether or not Kevin Trudeau will indeed be
incarcerated. I have only been told that October 30 will probably
be "a big day." But again, this is just speculation,
since I have not been able to independently verify this
information. There could be more eleventh-hour stall tactics, and
Trudeau could indeed end up paying the $37.6 million fine, or at least enough of it to placate the FTC temporarily, and
thus be able to stay a free man for a while longer. At this
point, as far as I know, there are no guarantees one way or the
other. But that doesn't stop Lenny Coldwell from continuing to
crow about the prospect of his former good buddy in jail...
More True-dough on this Whirled:
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