DOCUMENT: Celebrity, Stupid

Revealed: Sh*t My CEO Says

Infomercial outlaw’s bizarre business priorities detailed

Kevin Trudeau

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Kevin Trudeau Memos

AUGUST 16--Seven months after a federal judge ordered infomercial kingpin Kevin Trudeau to pay a $37.6 million fine for his deceptive TV commercials, the businessman has yet to pay a cent to the Federal Trade Commission, according to a status report filed in U.S. District Court.

Trudeau, a convicted felon, has been the FTC’s Public Enemy Number One for more than a decade, owing to his habit of making false and misleading claims when peddling various products to unsuspecting/gullible consumers. These products include purported weight loss “cures,” get-rich-quick programs, and alternative medicine books disclosing cures that the medical community has supposedly hidden from the public.

Along with ripping off his customers, the oily Trudeau appears to be a nightmare boss based on scores of internal policy directives he has issued to employees over the years. There are too many bizarre Trudeau communiqués to publish here, so we’ve settled on a quartet that provide a glimpse at his management style and priorities.

These strange Trudeau directives address company policies on clean desks, the use of dictionaries, the need to drink fruit and vegetable juices, and Scientology and Dianetics.

While noting that, “I will never require anyone to do anything that they believe is against their own personal beliefs,” Trudeau strongly recommended auditing “courses that are offered through an L. Ron Hubbard organization.” He added, “Keep in mind, John Travolta, Tom Cruise, and many other celebrities and very wealthy people attribute their happiness and their success to these services.” Like Hubbard, Trudeau has been branded a charlatan by his many critics.

The FTC is currently conducting “post-judgment discovery” in an attempt to identify--and attach--Trudeau’s assets to satisfy his eight-figure debt to the government. (14 pages)

Comments (20)

I had the same reaction as leancleanse until I got to about page 3 of his "keep your desk clean" policy and my eyes glazed over and I lost consciousness. Let's also remember that these are only four of the memos that The Smoking Gun published. By their own account there are many, many more. This guy clearly likes to preach, and preach, and preach about the most mundane things, believing them to have the weight of the Sermon on the Mount. Why was I not surprised when I finally got to the memo espousing his Scientology beliefs?
Wow what a Jerk! What kind of boss provides free organic juice to his staff, encourages them to increase their word power and pays for self-development courses of their own choosing (including travel costs)? What kind of boss gives their employees time to clear their desk and get organized? What kind of boss wants no stressed out employees? The man should be drawn and quartered. Get back to work lackeys and look busy even if you're tired, burned out, depressed, stressed out and nutrient deficient. Okay the Scientology might not be my cup of tea, but hey I can go for NLP training on the house instead! In the mean time, if someone knows how I can get a job with KT, let me know.
Organic juice is BS. Scientology is BS. NLP is BS. If you don't understand this, and if you truly think Trudeau is worth working for, then you deserve each other.
FTC needs to be looking offshore - at a little secret society income maker call The Global Information Network aka GIN.
What a bunch of rambling and pointless drivel! At least my boss's inane, nitpicky memos about company policy are short and to the point. I can't imagine having to read those memos let alone comply with them. As for anyone wanting to work for this guy, well, people get desperate in a bad economy and when your unemployment runs out, you do what you gotta do. As far as dictionaries are concerned, I think the Urban Dictionary would be more appropriate for finding terms to describe this guy and his so-called "cures."
In his dictionary rant he uses the word "phenomena" instead of the singular "phenomenon". A quick look at a dictionary would have helped.
Anyone that sends out a memo on the enforced usage of dictionaries and then uses the words "lot's" deserves to be taken out and shot by the grammar police. And don't the dictionary and Dianetics books go against the clean-desk policy? Weren't they supposed to keep their desks free of books? Where are the dictionary and Dianetics books to go? (Well, I know where the Scientology materials should go, but I am actually pro-dictionary...)
I would hate to have to work for him. I don't think you could pay me enough to listen to a man who tells you things he makes up so it will fit his delusions. I got out my dictionary like he says and found no condition called zeanite oxidates. They are something he made up or something L R H made up while writing his fiction. He also misspells the Dr.'s name that he quotes. He spells it Sharaskin it's Cheraskin. He should listen or read his own memos because he doesn't even practice what he preaches. Funny how we have destroyed all of the fruits and vegetables and meats that we have a much longer life expectancy than we did in the 50's. Never trust someone who makes up things to support their opinion. It is not OK to lie because you believe it is the proper means to an end.
Actually, in reading his memos, I don't really see what the big deal is. He's idiosyncratic, but not much more so than most people I know. Is the point of this article merely to accuse, in similar fashion as an archetypal preteen girl, Mr Trudeau of being "weird"? Rather immature, wouldn't you think?
Scientologist - nuff said
"Cheese is not cheese."
"Water was heavier 100 years ago..." What a bunch of ignorant bullshiat bafflegab! This is why Scientologists should NOT be allowed to give medical advice! They may think they're the Authorities on Everything, but all they really are is sad little thetans who take advice from a dead pulp fiction writer.
These memos remind me of the infamous instructions/orders/memos that Howard Hughes used to give to staff...
What the heck is wrong with these documents? What he says is right on. If you don't like working at a clean desk, then don't work there! No one is forcing you. Aside from the Scientology crap, he sounds like a decent boss who values productivity. What could possibly be wrong with that? Good lord, if you're going to poke fun at a corporate exec, go for Larry Ellison or Lou Pai or some other douchebag. Good lord.
Are people that hard up for work they actually work for this guy? WTF? Not anymore I guess.
The whole looking up every word you don't know the full definition for is actually an L. Ron Hubbard study tech. The consequences he mentions for not looking up words are also common in L R H's work. Nuts and just plain silly.
Why stop at books and files? The desk itself is too distracting. In fact I can focus this nutrient-rich melon rind into a laser to burn a hole right through it.
A 6 page diatribe on juice? And this raised no alarms with anyone?
For all of his emphasis on the dictionary and the need to emanate a professional demeanor, his memos are all very poorly and unprofessionally written.
The guy is a freak show. Hard to believe that people STILL buy his products and services.