Receiver Says Pitchman Trudeau Continues To Hide Money

Trudeau insists he has given a full accounting of every penny of his assets

A court-appointed receiver tasked with the job of untangling veteran pitchman Kevin Trudeau’s serpentine empire suggests that even in the face of court scrutiny, Trudeau continues to hide his money. 

Armed with that information, government lawyers reminded a Chicago judge of his promise to jail Trudeau if he continued his elusive ways.

Attorney Blair Zanzig with receiver Robert Evans and Associates says as recently as Sept. 6, Trudeau insisted he had given a full accounting of every penny of his assets.

“I am being very straightforward and am not hiding anything,” Trudeau wrote in an email. He followed it up the next day with another note stating, “I have nothing to hide. There are no hidden assets anywhere in the world.”

But Zanzig states in a court filing that the receivers have learned Trudeau maintains still another account at a Sydney, Australia, bank, where more than $17,000 was withdrawn July 29, wired to a Banco Popular account in Illinois. 

After repeated attempts to gain information on the account, the attorney said last week, Trudeau relented and provided a username and password.

“Trudeau’s January 24, 2013 sworn financial statement submitted to the Court listed this account with a small balance,” he writes. “The combined balances of the checking and savings account at that time were approximately $140,000.” 

Zanzig says even after Trudeau was ordered to stop transferring or spending any assets August 7, he made a number of debit card transactions.  Bank records indicate withdrawals from the Australian bank account, totaled over $7,000 during the month of August.

Among the purchases: $894.30 in a single visit to Westmont Liquors; $740.48 in two trips to Whole Foods in Hinsdale; $359.00 for two haircuts at a Vidal Sasoon hair salon; $1,057.88 in meats ordered from an online butcher; and $920.86 in cigars from the Humidor of Westmont.

“We have not had a chance to investigate the government’s allegations,” said Trudeau’s attorney Kimball Anderson. “We will do so in due course.”

In a companion filing, Federal Trade Commission attorneys note that judge Robert Gettleman ruled that any deviations from his orders would result in Trudeau’s immediate incarceration.

“Instead of putting you in prison, or incarcerating you, I’m giving you the key to open that (jailhouse) door,” Gettleman told the accused flim-flam artist July 26.  “And it’s the last time I am going to do that!”

The court filing states that the very next day, Trudeau spent $185 at the Dalia Salon and Spa in Hinsdale, followed the next day by one of the Whole Foods shopping sprees, a $559 visit to the cigar store, and the transfer of approximately $18,642 from the Australian account to “an unknown location.”

“The FTC urges the Court not to remain idle while Trudeau flouts its two most recent orders,” the agency warns the judge, reminding him he would be within his right to immediately throw Trudeau in jail.

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