Kevin Trudeau Charges FTC with Intentionally Misleading the Press

Kevin Trudeau Charges FTC with Intentionally Misleading the Press

National Consumer Advocate Files Motion to Block Further False Advertising by the Federal Trade Commission

CHICAGO, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Kevin Trudeau, consumer activist and author of the bestseller, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About, today took the next step in his fight to stop the campaign of false advertising against him by the Federal Trade Commission.

Mr. Trudeau has filed today a motion for a preliminary injunction that would require the FTC to remove or correct a misleading and injurious "press release" currently posted on its website. In the brief, Mr. Trudeau details how the Commission misled the mass media, including major newswires and newspapers, to broadly disseminate false and injurious information.

The FTC release falsely stated that Mr. Trudeau had been banned from infomercials; falsely implied that the courts had declared Trudeau guilty of false advertising; and falsely implied that he had been fined $2 million. In fact, there has been no judicial finding of false advertising whatsoever nor has a fine been levied.

Acting in good faith, major media outlets disseminated the FTC's false information, which appeared in an Associated Press report last September. It was picked up by news outlets around the country while separate regurgitations of the unfounded allegations appeared in major outlets from the Washington Post to CNN.

"Ironically, the FTC is guilty of the very same kind of false advertising for which the Commission habitually sues U.S. businesses," said David Bradford, a partner at Jenner & Block in Chicago who filed the motion on Mr. Trudeau's behalf.

"The FTC's actions against Mr. Trudeau do not even begin to meet the FTC's own standards," said Mr. Bradford.

Among numerous other specific damages, TV announcer Ed McMahon apparently cancelled an interview that would have promoted Mr. Trudeau's book after Mr. McMahon's wife read the FTC press release.

The false representations breach a settlement agreement that Mr. Trudeau had hammered out with the FTC. Mr. Trudeau is seeking remedies for that breach of contract in separate lawsuits against the Commission.

In an agreement to settle prior litigation then pending in the United States District Court before the Northern District of Illinois, the government expressly acknowledged that "[t]here have been no findings or admissions of wrongdoing or liability by [Kevin Trudeau]." It also agreed that there was "no fine, penalty or punitive assessment."

Within days, however, the FTC issued the news release maligning Mr. Trudeau in language that directly contradicts the terms of the settlement agreement by falsely implying that Mr. Trudeau was found guilty of false advertising and was fined $2 million.

"The media was representing in good faith what the FTC was saying. Unfortunately, the fountain of this misinformation, the FTC, has misled the press and the public. It is unacceptable for the government to spread misinformation, which it knows to be false," said Bradford.

Source: TruStar Global Media

CONTACT: David J. Bradford, Esq. of Jenner & Block, +1-312-222-9350, or
djbradford@jenner.com; or Kimball R. Anderson of Winston & Strawn LLP,
+1-312-558-5858 or kanderson@winston.com; or Leslie Valenza, +1-202-973-1320,
Cell: +1-703-909-1283, or lvalenza@levick.com, all for TruStar Global Media

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