Kevin Trudeau is out of prison...

[Dien Rice]

I agree with you...

In his ads, Kevin Trudeau had such an earnest demeanor that could just suck you in...

Let me confess something...

I'm pretty good (I think) at resisting advertising... But there are just two TV infomercials - during the days of late-night infomercials - that almost got me to dial up and order...

The first one was Joe Sugarman's BluBlocker sunglasses infomercials... I think I saw it probably in the early 1990s. I loved it!

The second one was a Kevin Trudeau infomercial... But it was one that only ran in Australia.

(I'm a American-Australian dual citizen, but live in Australia...)

Kevin Trudeau's infomercials also reached Australia... I remember seeing one of his famous "Mega Memory" infomercials on TV here.

But in the late 1990s, he teamed up with an Aussie investor... a guy named Rene Rivkin.

Rene Rivkin was very flamboyant...

Think of a kind of cross between Gordon Gekko and Donald Trump, who speaks with an Australian accent...

His reputation was as a master of the stock market (like Gordon Gekko), but he had the flamboyance of Donald Trump...

He was definitely a colorful character.

Back then, Rivkin had a newsletter called the "Rivkin Report." In it, he let you know his stock picks, so you could invest in them and (presumably) make money...

Kevin Trudeau teamed up with Rene Rivkin. They did an "interview-style" infomercial, where Trudeau was the interviewer, and Rivkin was the interviewee...

I found it fascinating... I was interested in stocks at the time (and still am)... so I wanted to know Rene Rivkin's stock-picking secrets!

It was mesmerizing... I so wanted to subscribe to the "Rivkin Report" on seeing the infomercial!

Yeah... I almost bought, thanks to Mr Trudeau, along with Rene Rivkin...

And now... The rest of the story is like a sordid soap opera.

A few years later, in 2003, Rene Rivkin was convicted of insider trading. Because of that, he did some jail time. He was banned for life from ever having a stockbroking license ever again.

He also was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died in 2005.

A few years later, in 2008, Rene Rivkin's former chauffeur and personal assistant, Gordon Wood, went on trial. It was for the murder of Wood's then girlfriend, Caroline Byrne.

Caroline was a model. In 1995, she was found at the bottom of a cliff, at a place called "The Gap" at Sydney harbor.

As a result of the trial, Gordon Wood was found guilty of her murder.

During the trial, Caroline Byrne's father made an astounding claim...

At the time that Caroline died, Gordon Wood was working for Rene Rivkin.

And Caroline's father claimed that Gordon Wood was Rene Rivkin's secret lover.

Caroline's father claimed that Caroline had found out about this... Which is why she had to be killed.

Although he was married, Rene Rivkin seemed to always have a "posse" of young, hunky men surrounding him. It did seem suspicious...

But there was no public suspicion during his lifetime...

Gordon Wood appealed his sentence, and was eventually acquitted on appeal...

So... there you go!

Wacky stuff...

In the end... I did find out how Rene Rivkin was so successful at stock market investing!

But insider trading ain't legal, as he found out...

Best wishes,

Dien

Originally Posted by cash4notes

One thing is for sure. The guy can just flat-out market. From starting a professional pool league to GCN network he convinced a lot of folks to reach into their pockets.