FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2013 file photo, television infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau speaks to the media after leaving the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago. On Monday, March 17, 2014, a federal judge in Chicago is scheduled to sentence Trudeau for bilking consumers through his infomercials. In November 2013, jurors convicted Trudeau for defying a court order barring him from running infomercials that made false claims about his book, "The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You to Know About." (AP Photo/Sun-Times Media, Michael Jarecki) MANDATORY CREDIT, MAGS OUT, NO SALES (The Associated Press)
Federal authorities are poised to begin compensating customers who purchased a fraudulent weight-loss book from imprisoned infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau.
The Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/1QG2BGz ) reports that a Federal Trade Commission said in a court filing last week that it will start mailing refund checks within 30 days. It said almost 1.27 million people purchased the book.
Trudeau was sentenced in 2014 to a 10-year prison term after jurors agreed he bilked consumers through infomercials for "The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About." Prosecutors say the book generated $39 million in revenue.
The refund money will come from about $8 million worth of Trudeau's assets that were recovered by a court-appointed receiver last summer.
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