Click on pic for direct link to read the ABC News story about KT and watch the video.
It's not that I didn't enjoy the latest ABC News report on serial scammer Kevin Trudeau, which aired on Wednesday night, May 29, 2013. I really did enjoy it. Thoroughly. The producers and reporters obviously put a lot of time and effort and expense into bringing us some rollicking good entertainment, and perhaps in the process they opened a few more eyes to the fact that... duh... Kevin Trudeau is a scammer, and his Ponzi-like Global Information Network (GIN) is a scam. I'm not trying to sell ABC short at all. ABC has had KT's number for years, as have numerous other mainstream and not-so-mainstream media outlets.
But some of the public has been slow to get the memo. Some never will, no matter how many good stories come out about KT. Even so, I have to believe that every critical story of a lifelong scammer like Kevin Trudeau does at least a little bit of good.
Trying in vain to get an interview with True-dough the normal way, the ABC News crew "ambushed" him (Kevin's words) in his new hometown of Zurich, Switzerland, one of the most expensive cities in the world. They also managed an interview at his "Dream Weekend" near Dallas this past April, although -- and this is no big surprise -- he wasn't very forthcoming with reporter Bill Weir. And on March 8, a little over a month before Dream Weekend, Bill Weir and crew picked up self-proclaimed GIN destroyer Abe Husein at the airport in Chicago in one of True-dough's leased Bentleys, and they all took a trip to the GIN offices in Chicagoland, as well as to KT's rented McMansion. (Abe got to drive the Bentley for a little while too.)
Immediately after the joyride, Abe was crowing about it all over Facebook, saying it was the best day of his life, and that it was sweet mother justice, and so on. Abe's mentor Loony Lenny Coldwell, former GIN speaker and ex-KT b.f.f., declared that on that momentous day, Abe had single-handedly destroyed GIN. Even the more reticent Peter Wink, former GIN marketing director and ex-KT b.f.f., sang the praises of a 27-year-old "kid" who had been able to accomplish what all of the big guys who'd been chasing KT for years had been unable to do. (About a month later, GIN sent an email out to its members about the upcoming ABC story as well. Here's Omri at Glancingweb, talking about that.)
So Abe had another moment of glory, and was, at the very least, a useful prop for the Chicago chapter of the story.
At the invitation of the ABC crew, Abe Husein climbs into the back seat of one of Kevin Trudeau's rented Bentleys,
armed with some GIN material (and, for some reason, a copy of Secret creator Rhonda Byrne's book, The Power).
Abe told the ABC reporters that at one time he believed
there really was a secret GIN Council,
and that it possibly included Will Smith and
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and perhaps Ron Paul as well.
But did that joyride in the Bentley really mark the end of GIN, as Loony Coldwell was saying? Did it mean that Kevin's scamming days are over for good? Probably not. That might make a good movie script someday, but the truth is much more complex, and as I have been saying nonstop for more than a year now, there will be no neat and tidy endings to this story. There rarely are, in Scamworld.
Still, the ABC show was good, and presented some pretty damning evidence against Kevin Trudeau, most of which those of us who have been following this story closely already knew. It was good to see it presented to a wider audience, even if it ultimately doesn't make much of a dent in Scamworld.
The story took a lighthearted, humorous approach -- a few have even said it was too lighthearted, to the point of being cartoonish. And some folks were disappointed because of that. Some think that this humorous, almost ridiculing approach may have actually worked in Kevin's favor. No doubt some KT fans fell even more in love with him after watching the show, and will continue to see him as the brave hero fighting the big bad government. (One diehard KT fan with whom I communicate on Facebook said she enjoyed the show a lot.)
Although there's been quite a lot of post-show buzz on Facebook and in the blogosphere so far (see links below), the net effects of the story remain to be seen. But keep in mind that this may not be the end of this cycle of KT coverage from ABC; I am sure they have many more hours of footage that they may roll out at some point.
In any case it is true that unlike ABC's relatively in-depth 2010 coverage of the James Arthur Ray debacle (with some side stories about some of Ray's fellow "stars" in The Secret), the ABC/KT segment Wednesday night was more "gotcha!" It was actually the kickoff for a new consumer-oriented ABC summer series, The Lookout, under the umbrella of Nightline/Primetime. Trudeau took up the first half of the hour-long premiere, and the second half was devoted to mold inspection scams. Next week: fat-burning machines and bedbugs. (Or locksmith scams and the truth about thread counts in sheets. ABC has run several different promos over the past few weeks so I imagine they're kind of making it up as they go along.) And so it goes.
The problems with Kevin Trudeau, of course, go far beyond consumer issues, and even beyond the white-collar crimes the FTC and probably several other government agencies have been trying to pin on him for years. There are also serious issues related to the selfish-help/New-Wage/McSpirituality industry and Scamworld -- issues such as manipulation, cult tactics, and just generally messing with people's minds and emotions (and little wonder, since KT has admitted being a fan of Scientology). But I wouldn't expect ABC to go into all of that regarding a scammer who, unlike James Ray, has so far not killed anyone (that I know of, anyway).
Despite the growing collection of evidence about Kevin's wrongdoings, he may, rightly or wrongly, still end up walking. Some have been speculating for months that this may be the case. Here's one guy, David Connelly, who, though far from the first to suggest such a scenario, does so in the context of responding to the ABC story. In his video Connelly purports to be an impartial observer, but later in one of the comments he says he is an unabashed Trudeau fan. Even so, and despite his apparent unwillingness to entertain any issues of morality or ethics, Connelly makes some good points about Kevin's clever maneuverings of funds (though I don't buy Connelly's (possibly tongue-in-cheek) suggestions of a "conspiracy" involving a GIN council).*
Despite his many fans and followers, Kevin Trudeau isn't out of hot water yet, legally or morally. Following his evidentiary hearing on May 21 -- a hearing in which he pleaded the Fifth Amendment nearly 400 times -- he is due back in Judge Robert Gettleman's court on June 26, when the court holds his former attorney and GIN co-founder Marc Lane's feet to the fire. At that point Judge Gettleman may or may not make a decision on whether or not to incarcerate Kevin, and for how long.
Then there is a related criminal case[1:10-cr-0086] with Judge Ronald Guzman. The fact that the hearings are being dragged out in the civil case has probably altered the docket of the criminal case, which was originally scheduled to go to trial this Monday (June 3). Again, there's no certainty that any of this will result in Trudeau's being thrown in jail.
And speaking of the Fifth... Goodness me, June 26, the day Kevin is due back in court, is the fifth anniversary of his marriage to his beautiful young Ukrainian bride Natalie Babenko, "a successful businesswoman in her own right" (that's how the ABC story says KT's lawyers describe her). One wonders if the happy couple will be together in that courtroom making goo-goo eyes at each other. I am inclined to think not.
Natalie Babenko, aka Mrs. Kevin Trudeau, is gorgeous in canary yellow.
Will she eventually sing like a canary to protect herself? Stay tuned.
(The pic on the left is from a
series of photos from happier sun-kissed, GIN-soaked days...)
* Addendum, 7 June 2013: David Connelly has since "switched sides" re Kevin Trudeau, as indicated in this more recent video. I think it's more accurate to say that he merely solidified a position towards which he'd been leaning for a while. My opinion is that Connelly, like so many others who are constantly making videos, likes the attention and likes to be controversial. But it also seems clear from the bit at the beginning of this latest video that he is revolted by some of Trudeau's ex-b.f.f.s -- namely Loony Coldwell -- whom he perceives to be worse than Trudeau (and many, many people agree with that).
Now, to me it's not an either-or situation. I can be anti-KT AND anti-Coldwell and other scammer/predators too. But then, I've learned over the years to "think big," because Scamworld is a big, big place.
More reactions to the ABC story about Kevin Trudeau:
http://doubtfulnews.com/2013/05/kevin-trudeau-hiding-his-assets-from-the-feds/
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/infomercial_king_kevin_trudeau_recycles_the_secret/?utm_source=feedly
And I suppose no list would be complete without Abe Husein's own giddy recap, in which he repeatedly gives "mad props" to the bit players like the Nightline crew who helped him achieve his latest moment of glory. Here it is.
More True-dough on this Whirled:
May 2013: ABC tackles Kevin Trudeau -- again!
May 2013: Kevie goes a-courtin': pleading the Fifth
May 2013: Kevin Trudeau: Justice...or just more paper shuffling?
May 2013: Kevin Trudeau: Countdown to court date (or not)
May 2013: Kevin Trudeau + Mark Hamilton = GIN with a twist of Neo-stink
April 2013: Bankruptcy: GIN members await Level 7 while Kevin Trudeau files Chapter 7
March 2013: Ryan Kath at KSHB-TV does Trudeau/GIN update, Coldwell & Wink continue to scam with cheap imitation of GIN
February 2013: Kevin Trudeau's GIN: The sky is falling (again)...yawn
February 2013: Loony Coldwell: Cheesy video and bad spelling
February 2013: IBMS Master's Society Supreme Loony Coldwell strikes again
February 2013: Faux heroes and hypocrisy in action
February 2013: Meet the new scam, same as the old scam, Part 2
January 2013: Vital signs: "Immortal" (former) breatharian Mony Vital dies on GIN cruise
January 2013: Meet the new scam, same as the old scam, Part 1
December 2012: 2012 ~ The Whirled goes on
November 2012: Kevin Trudeau: justice delayed...again
November 2012: Kevin Trudeau exposé on KSHB-TV: buzz, backlash, and big beginnings
November 2012: Alien nation: just how crazy is Kevin Trudeau (not to mention his sheeple)?
November 2012: Kevin Trudeau: KSHB-TV undercover investigation
November 2012: Kevin Trudeau gets some more mainstream lovin'
October 2012: Evil has not won
October 2012: Kevin Trudeau: Rats in our heads, GIN down the toilet...and life goes on
October 2012: Kevin Trudeau: The shape of things to come?
September 2012: Leonard Coldwell and Fred Van Liew: Pot, meet kettle
August 2012: Truth is better than GIN any day
July 2012: Drunk on GIN, and you can too!
July 2012: Kevin Trudeau's GIN: part of the big sick machine
July 2012: Independence Daze
May 2012 (updated September 2012): Paging Dr. C: Bernd bridges in Deutschland?
May 2012: Can alien DNA save Kevin Trudeau's GIN?
May 2012: Does a canary with a GIN hangover sing as sweetly?
April 2012: Viva Lost Wages: Sin City Become GIN City for a weekend
February 2012: A. Rose by any other name would shill as sweet
December 2011: True-dough updates: Bad poetry for KT, hate mail for CC
November 2011: A jumpsuit for Jimmy
August 2011: First Amendment Stuporhero
August 2011: Everything old is Nouveau again (or, Neo-scam by any other name) -- Part 2 of 2
August 2011: Calling all lazy men: let's build a pyramid together!
August 2011: Everything old is Nouveau again (or, Neo-scam by any other name), Part 1 of 2
June 2011: Holy Guacamole! True-dough's racist rants
June 2011: For he's a jolly good felon: True-dough speaks out for Death Ray
December 2009 (amended several times in 2010): Illuminutty: the secret brotherhood of the chronically gullible
November 2009: How to take over the world
July 2009: Horse farts and related matters
January 2009: Mr. Fire meets up with true dough