After Night In Jail, 'Penniless' TV Pitchman Remembered Swiss Account
CHICAGO (STMW) -- He claimed he was "penniless and homeless."
But an overnight stay in federal jail seems to have had a remarkable effect on discredited TV pitchman and convicted felon Kevin Trudeau's memory.
After just one evening locked up away from the comforts of his luxury Oak Brook home in September, the fraudster revealed he'd "just remembered" a secret Swiss bank account he'd previously failed to disclose, according to newly filed court papers.
Trudeau — who for six years has avoided paying a single cent of a $38 million court fine for falsely advertising his weight loss book — wrote checks worth nearly $75,000 from the hidden Swiss account on Aug. 23, more than two weeks after he'd been banned from moving any money by U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman, according to the filing by court-appointed receiver Blair Zanzig.
Most of the money went to a business owned by his longtime associate Lee Kenny, who the Federal Trade Commission has previously suggested is helping Trudeau hide his assets from the court overseas.
Trudeau allegedly first "remembered" that the account existed less than a month later on Sept. 20 — the same day he told Gettleman he was broke, and one day after Gettleman locked him up in an attempt to coerce him into coming clean.
The receiver says he didn't learn of the $75,000 payments until the Swiss bank revealed them last week, just as Trudeau was being convicted of criminal contempt in a separate but related case. Millions of Trudeau's dollars remain unaccounted for.
Trudeau, 50, was twice this fall briefly locked up, then released by Gettleman, but is now being held in jail on the orders of U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman, who has yet to sentence him for the contempt conviction.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
