Buyers of pitchman’s bogus weight-loss book to get refunds

CHICAGO – Federal authorities are poised to begin compensating customers who purchased a fraudulent weight-loss book from imprisoned infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau.

The Chicago Tribune 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.