CHICAGO (AP) — An appeals court in Chicago has upheld a 10-year prison term for a best-selling author whose name is synonymous with late-night TV pitches.
Its Friday opinion says Kevin Trudeau “spent his career hawking miracle cures…of dubious efficacy” and that his “bag of tricks contains something to relieve almost any ailment.”
The unanimous decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ three-judge panel says his sentence for criminal contempt wasn’t excessive given “the size of Trudeau’s fraud and the flagrant and repetitive nature” of it.
He was sentenced in 2014 after jurors agreed he bilked consumers through infomercials for “The Weight Loss Cure “They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” Prosecutors say the book generated $39 million in revenue.
A message left for his Chicago attorney Friday wasn’t immediately returned.
