Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Kevin Trudeau: Countdown to court date (or not)


[Note: This post has been updated since it was first published. See huge red sub-head  below, dated 15 May. ~ CC]

Oh, my goodness, look at the calendar, Dear Ones. It's May 14, and one week from today, on May 21 at 10:00 AM, one of this blog's most favorite snargets for more than four years -- that would be serial scammer Kevin Trudeau -- is scheduled to appear in court in Illinois for an evidentiary hearing regarding his longstanding civil case (Number 1:03-cv-03904, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, the Honorable Robert W. Gettleman presiding). The hearing is related to the FTC's motion to hold Trudeau in contempt.

Will Kevin indeed show up in person in Illinois, despite the fact that reportedly he is currently living in Switzerland? Will the hearing take place via Skype or some other videoconferencing method? Or will his lawyers manage to get yet another eleventh-hour delay?

I am not sure but I'm thinking he won't show up and it will be NBD (see the bit about KT's bankruptcy, later on in this post). As of today, here is the latest document filed in this case, filed yesterday, May 13, 2013. It is a status update of third-party corporations, as well as a request by GIN lawyers to participate in the status conference by phone. It looks like the Court is scheduled to take a depo from True-dough on May 18. And that's a Saturday, and courts usually aren't open on Saturdays. But telephones and the Interwebz are. Anyway, here's the doc (as usual, click on images to enlarge):



You can draw your own conclusions, if any, from that. At any rate, the main reason I am posting today is to remind you that there is a way you can keep reasonably current with the goings-on too. I've discussed this on various Facebook forums and have mentioned it on this blog too, but now is as good a time as any to mention it again.

The reason I mention this is that, as you may or may not know, but probably do know by now if you've been following this blog or certain other "hater" blogs or Facebook discussion groups,
Not-Doctor Loony Coldwell has been acting as if he is the sole keeper of this information. Loony is one of Kevin Trudeau's former b.f.f.s and was once a highly paid speaker for Trudeau's scammy, Ponzi-like Global Information Network (GIN). For more than six months he has been all over his Facebook page and his tawdry blog, boasting about having access to the court documents concerning the above-cited case. His protege Abe Husein has also been boasting, and has shared snippets of screen shots and commentary of some of the docs on his own Facebook page. According to recent comments from both Lenny and Abe, Kevin Trudeau will very likely be arrested on May 21, or some time in June at the latest. And they really, really, really, really mean it this time. Really!

For those who don't want to wait for Abe's screen shots or little Lenny's coy hints about the seekrit stuff he knows, there's good news: If you are in the US you can go to PACER.gov site and register.
http://www.pacer.gov/

Costs for documents are quite reasonable: 10 cents per page, with a maximum of $3.00 for any one document. After you have registered or logged in, just go to the PACER case locator, which you can get to from the home page.

Remember: The case for which Abe and Lenny have been sharing all of those documents since last year is a civil case. Again, the case number is 1:03-cv-03904, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Judge Robert Gettleman presiding. On some documents the case number is formatted like this: 03-C-3904. Sometimes the site is a little confusing. But you should be able to find your way around it after a fashion.

And remember that this is just one of the current cases against Kevin Trudeau. There is a related criminal contempt case as well with Judge Guzman, Case Number 1:10-cr-0086 (
here again is a link to a June 2011 document from that case).

There is also a more recently initiated bankruptcy case, Case Number 13-764, filed on April 22, 2013, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. I wrote about it on April 24.

In fact that whole bankruptcy thing may render most of the other scheduled court hearings moot. After all,
according to the notification of bankruptcy filing document, which was filed on April 23, "The bankruptcy filing invokes an automatic stay...which precludes any creditor or any other party from initiating or continuing further legal proceedings against the defendant." The document I shared above only relates to "the narrow exception to the automatic stay as ordered by this court." So there's that to consider.

There is no telling how many other parties have sued or tried to sue KT over the past 20 years or more, but I don't have the time to go searching for all of that.

There is a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo in these documents, and a lot of it is very boring to non-lawyers and maybe even to most lawyers. I don't even pretend to understand most of it. But the docs are there for those who are interested and want to peruse them.

When I searched for info on the civil case a couple of weeks ago, I took a screen shot of my search result (I have deleted user ID, of course). If your result looks similar it shows you are on the right track (don't be confused by the notation that the case was closed in 2004. It is ongoing.). Happy searching!
Update 15 May 2013: The Three Stooges and Document 666
Some time after I signed off PACER yesterday, a couple more documents became available regarding Kevin Trudeau's civil case with the FTC. One was just a notification of filing, and the other one, Document 666 (ahem) on the very long docket for this case, answered some of the questions I asked above -- well, sort of.

Lenny Coldwell and Abe Husein got hold of that document, and in short order Lenny had posted it on his blog (along with some of the other recent documents). Abe posted a snippet of a screen shot that confirmed that Kevin Trudeau is required to be present at the hearing on May 21, 2013.

But the document doesn't actually say Kevin has to be physically present in the courtroom. Is that just understood? Anyway, here again are screen shots (remember to click on the pics in order to enlarge them enough to make them readable):





Anyway. Maybe I'm just being narcissistic again, but it seems that my publication of this blog post yesterday caused a little bit of a stir from the third stooge... I mean, self-proclaimed hero... of the anti-GIN movement, Peter Wink, who has been mostly silent about the KT/GIN saga recently. Apparently he felt it necessary to post an update on Facebook today, on the IMBS-ing U Master Baiter's scam page.



Peter responded to a remark that someone apparently made about this (I am not able to see all comments, so I can't post a screen shot, but someone copied and pasted this for me):
...there is nobody else online that knows what's happening in this case in real time. Everyone else is days behind and not even getting the facts correct. I have not seen one thing online with any semblance of real accuracy. Just a bunch of loosely gathered public data from PACERS [sic] that does not give any foundation or order to things. To understand this case, you have to be involved in it and know all the players. The meat of the story is not posted publicly. This is why everything I post, though little, has always proven accurate. All based on objective facts. I'm not into rants, raves and opinions. KT is on his ninth live [sic], that's a fact right now. Yesterday's final court order tells the story. I know the background of why it came about --- nobody else online does. The judge has constricted options to wrap things up one way or another. KT is now in a no-win as he pushed things too far. You will see this over the next few weeks as his case come to a conclusion. If GIN owes you money, I'd collect it if I were you --- if nothing else, as a precaution. Hugs brother.
So there! Neener, neener, neener. Actually I have never claimed to know what all of the court docs are about and have never claimed that I think they tell the entire story. In fact I've come out and said that I don't understand most of it. My purpose in posting the information about the documents, and the link to PACER, is so people who are interested can find the information on their own, without relying on lunatics like Lenny to spoon feed them the information. But as for Peter saying that everything he posts has always proven accurate -- um, I don't think so. After all, he was one of those who, along with Lenny, was saying that Trudeau would be arrested on October 30 of last year. And that's just one of many times he has missed the mark. So my advice would be to not consider Peter to be an unimpeachable source.

At any rate, the first thing I thought upon reading these comments from Peter was that he seems to be subtly, or not so subtly, distancing himself from Lenny and Abe -- who have been making brash statements and predictions online for many months now -- by making it clear that only he, Peter, is the credible source, because he is the only one making public statements who is also legally involved with the FTC case.

Are you paying attention, Lenny and Abe? Do you know how close you may be to being thrown under the bus by Peter? (Here's another hint, Lenny. You know how Peter was with Kevin's gold and the FTC.)

There's been a lot of speculation about whether Peter made some kind of deal with the FTC in order to avoid prosecution himself. Honestly, I don't know. But I do know that he threw Kevin under the bus last October,
and it's all on paper as Document # 517 in the FTC's civil case against Kevin Trudeau.

I noticed also that in this latest statement on the IBMS Facebook page, Peter is once again painting himself as the hero who dared to tell the truth about Kevin. He does say he is sorry he ever went to work for the crook -- as if he had no idea when he went to work for him that KT was a crook. Uh-huh. I know I have mentioned this here before, but for the benefit of those who don't know... well, I happen to recall that last year Peter blithely told me, in a Facebook conversation that has long since been deleted, that he has known Kevin since the 1990s and had predicted everything that happened with GIN. He said Kevin hadn't changed. Though I didn't take screen shots I did have the presence of mind to copy and paste parts of this conversation, which took place on July 18-19 of last year on one of the publicly viewable Facebook pages.
Peter Wink: Hi Everyone. While Connie Schmidt and I do not always agree, there are some things we are totally aligned on. Read her blog "Whirled Musings." She is one of the best bloggers online whether you agree with her or not. Funny as heck too!
Whirled Musings
cosmicconnie.blogspot.com

Connie Schmidt: Thanks, Peter. At least we agree about KT now!

Peter Wink: My opinion is the same from day one. I've been around him off and on since the 90s. Same guy same predictability. Everything went as predicted.

Connie Schmidt: You still think he [KT] is the sweetest, most sincere guy around, and that anybody would want to work with him? Just trying to understand.
[And in the context of this comment, I cited this blog post I'd written, quoting him:
http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2010/04/conversations-with-peter-wink-part-2.html ~ CC]

Peter Wink: I will explain all this to you when we do our follow up interview. Personally I'm happier where I'm at. Learned a lot. Did a lot. I was smart enough to set myself up for this a year ago. Reporting to Kevin Trudeau directly had its good points. The reality is that I've changed a lot over the past three years and have very public ambitions. Therefore, to publicly comment about my former superior (employment wise) or any of his followers would have no reward for me. Unfortunately I believe the whole house of cards will absolutely come down soon, so getting out and doing bigger things was the right recipe. I just hope all the members and affiliates do not lose everything they have. I also hate to see all my former co-workers unemployed, which seems inevitable as most of them know nothing about the financial realities which were scary at best. When this all crashes I have a great opportunity for all the former members anyway.
As I've also noted, we never did our follow-up interview. But I'm not losing any sleep over it. By the way, I believe that "great opportunity" Peter mentioned at the end of his comment was, at that time, the 90forLife MLM Livinity/Youngevity flopportunity in which Peter and Lenny were passionately involved (but Lenny probably isn't any more, after making misogynistic remarks about Barb Pitcock of Livinity). However, Peter and Lenny may have been planning the IBMS Master's Society scam even back then, so I don't know for sure.

But back to the present. On his update for the IBMS page, Peter also claims to be weary of the whole GIN saga, but is apparently he is not weary enough to keep it off of the IMBS-ing U Master Baiter's page. He seems to be blatantly using the drama as a lure for people who are interested in the KT/GIN situation.

To me the main question, and one that will probably never be answered to anyone's satisfaction, is just how much of a part Peter played in the GIN scam, knowing it was a scam. There's a hint in some of the screen shots Bernie shared
in a January blog post on GINtruth.com. And more recently... like just now... Bernie shared this. No offense intended to real snakes, I'm sure!

More True-dough on this Whirled:
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    8 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Connie, I don't know why you're ignoring the very controversial nature of the rulings against Kevin Trudeau. The fact that he has troubled with the government doesn't make him a scam artist. What is far worse than any "scam" he has allegedly pulled are the rulings against his ability to speak candidly about the products he sells. Your writing is entertaining, but I think you really need to wake up to the first ammendment issues at play here.

    Cosmic Connie said...

    Anon, Kevin has been playing that "First Amendment"/free speech card for years. I don't buy it. See this August 2011 post from this Whirled:
    http://cosmicconnie.blogspot.com/2011/08/first-amendment-stuporhero.html

    He's been using the First Amendment angle to get people to look at him as a hero, and to persuade them to give him money so he can pay his lawyers. And he LIES about the frauducts and flopportunities he sells. The First Amendment does not protect marketing content if it is based on lies.

    Anonymous said...

    Connie, again, you are very entertaining, but most of what you say about Trudeau is complete conjecture. I have NEVER found Trudeau to be a liar, insofar as I have listened to him. He is always very careful to counterbalance his claims with the reality that his product or info will not work if directions are not followed, etc. is he a bit sloppy sometimes? Sure. Does he get overly excited about the things he sells? Yes. Does he sometimes throw cheap pitches? Absolutely. But my BS meter allows me to know that PEOPLE are the reason that they don't find results or value from what he sells. They don't follow directions, the don't actually follow the protocols, and they curse him when they regain their weight, or lose money in GIN, etc. No Connie...Kevin is not a liar. DEFINITELY imperfect and needs alot of improvement, but NOT a liar!

    Cosmic Connie said...

    Anon Wednesday May 15: So... I guess one person's lie is another person's "over excitement" and "cheap pitch" and "sloppiness." Whatever!

    Look. I've seen Trudeau in action on his vids and infomercials, and I've read a lot of his promotional copy. When speaking, he makes the huge promises over and over. And occasionally and quickly -- in passing -- he will slip in a little disclaimer, so quickly that it's very easy to ignore. Something to the effect of, "You are ALMOST guaranteed to see these results." Or, "It will slmost certainly work if..." Or, "You may not get the EXACT results, but..." And of course his web promos have their separate fine-print legal disclaimers.

    I've seen and heard too much to make me believe anything but the explanation that Kevin Trudeau is a liar. A career liar. And a sociopath.

    No disrespect intended, Anon, but I think your BS meter needs a little bit of a tune-up.

    Cosmic Connie said...

    Anon May 15, I shared your comment with a small group of friends, some of whom have been very heavily involved in GIN and tried their best to make it work. A couple of them had some responses which they gave me permission to share in the comments on this blog post. I'll call the first one Respondent A. Here is what Respondent A had to write:

    ==BEGIN RESPONDENT A'S COMMENT==
    As a member in GIN since well before it even officially started, I think I qualify to respond to this post. Back in December 2009, KT had a meeting in Chicago that I attended where they explained the affiliate program. Then when he was done explaining this to us, he looked around the room and said, "Let's face it though. There are going to be some of you out there that won't be able to do this. No matter how much training you go through, no matter how many YWIYC's you hand out, no matter how many hot leads you buy, no matter how many phone calls, emails or letters you send, you won't be able to sign anyone up in GIN. That's just the way it is in this business. That's why we came out with this Lazy Mans Way To Riches Program."

    Then, after he explained how that worked, he looked at us and said,"A lot of you won't give this program enough time to work and you'll quit. You'll do it for 6 months and drop out of the program and be quitters."

    Well as it turned out, the Lazy Mans Program only lasted for about 4 months before they cancelled it. Now, who's the quitter here? Also, some people had open orders -- "Non Fulfilled Lazy Mans" -- for well over 2 years and counting. Then, shortly after they cancelled the Lazy Mans program -- because even they couldn't do what they were trying to tell *us* to do -- they came out and said that the success rate for anyone that participates in the affiliate program and does the work is 100%.

    So my question is, which is it? He says one thing one day, and then when the financial situation changes, he says the opposite.

    Also, in early 2011, all us members that had open orders in that program were sent a letter that had several options. One was to leave the money with them and they would fulfill the orders whenever they could get to them. They never once offered any of us a cash refund until about a year ago when the SHTF in GIN.

    Also, in this letter, they clearly stated that we would be eligible for commissions each and every month without having to sign up a new member until all the open Lazy Mans orders were filled in full. Well, at the end of 2011, they went back on their agreement with us and cancelled all of our commissions as of January 1st 2012, even though they had put it in writing that they were going to continue paying us until all orders were filled.

    To me [Kevin Trudeau] is a Frauduct and Flopportunity pusher plain and simple.
    ===END===

    A few minutes later Respondent A added:
    "Oh, and another thing. In 2009 and 2010, KT was asked numerous times at numerous events about the tax issue concerning this affiliate program. [Kevin] clearly stated back then that GIN would NOT be issuing a 1099 form and the tax issue was up to us to deal with. Sure enough, they did not issue a 1099 for 2010, but lo and behold, they did issue one for 2011. Because of this I got audited by the IRS."
    ..............

    In other words, Anon, it sounds like Kevin has some serious 'splainin' to do to Respondent A and probably a few thousand other people who, in good faith, put their trust and their cash and their best efforts into Kevin's Big Money Grab.

    Cosmic Connie said...

    I also got some interesting comments from a person I will call Respondent B. Respondent B has been involved in GIN, and like so many others has become deeply disillusioned over the past year as more information has been revealed about the dodgy things Kevin Trudeau has been doing with GIN, and the numerous commitments he has apparently failed to keep.

    Respondent B recently befriended another person who was a platinum in GIN. According to Respondent B, this other person is one of those who really pays attention to detail. After having some eye-opening conversations with the platinum member, Respondent B wonders, "Why were the platinum members pushed to do whatever it took to get members to join during that promotion? And [they were] told to sign a letter of confidentiality, meaning they were not allowed to speak with other members -- or anyone else for that matter -- in re to the amount of money they made, etc."

    I replied to Respondent B's comment by writing that I've long observed that the most loyal GIN members and KT fans are quite closed-mouthed when asked if they have actually made money from GIN, and even more tight-lipped when asked how much.

    Respondent B answered, "From what I was told, they have very good reason [to be closed-mouthed]."

    Respondent B's platinum pal, like so many others whose stories I've read over the past year, has also shared that the actual payouts on investments made in GIN programs was many thousands of dollars less than the payout that had been promised.

    So, again, Kevin has some 'splainin' to do. As may be apparent from one of my comments above, I've been round and round with some GIN/KT fans, who have said that Kevin NEVER actually promised anything but only made reasonable projections, and always with proper disclaimers. But that does not seem to be the case at all!

    All of which leads me to ask, Anon May 15 (and May 14, since I think you're the same person): Are you involved in GIN? Are you in the affiliate program? If so, presumably you joined to make money. Have you made more than you invested? Are you satisfied with your ROI?

    Or are you just a Kevin Trudeau fan/admirer/loyalist who is defending him on general principle? I really want to know. I appreciate your sharing your perspective here.

    Anonymous said...

    Kevin Tru-dough proves the old aphorism that you can take the man out of the con, but you can't take the con out of the man.

    Your stance against this criminal is admirable, Connie. I'd like to speak with you personally some time.

    Trudeau took his scams to despicable levels because he actually focused his game on hope of desperate poor people. this is morally different than playing on the greed of well off speculators and gamblers.

    But what amazes me during this entire lengthy drama is that Trudeau's original 'partners in crime' and likely 'protectors' of his cash stash because they certainly were in on it from the beginning, are not indicted along with him or even mentioned anywhere? Am I missing something?

    Cosmic Connie said...

    Anon December 24: Thank you for your comment. To which of Katie's original "partners/protectors" are you referring? Lee Kenny? Donald Barrett? Janine Nubani Contursi? Ed Foreman? Fred van Liew? The Morters?

    Lee Kenny has been mentioned in various court docs as having information about assets and not being completely cooperative. The FTC and receiver know this but right now they are limited as to what they can do because Lee is in the UK most of the time, when he's not traveling to Switzerland or Australia.

    I still wonder if Kevin and his good buddy, the late Rene Rivkin, have anything stashed away collectively. I know that after Rivkin died, there was some buzz about assets he'd hidden. The authorities finally gave up, though.
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/rene-rivkin-fortunes-are-lost-forever/story-e6frg8zx-1226621149145

    Anyway... if you have info you would like to share, even just with me, email me at cosmic.connie at juno dot com.

    Thursday, December 26, 2013 1:55:00 PM