[quote]Arizona TV pitchman Don Lapre, the self-styled "King of Infomercials," has been found dead in his jail cell, just days before he was due to stand trial on charges of bilking investors and customers out of almost $52 million.
According to AZCentral.com, U.S. Marshals said Lapre's body was discovered on Sunday morning at a federal-contract facility in Florence, Arizona.
Officials suspect he committed suicide while in federal custody, but the death remains under investigation.
In June, a grand jury indicted Lapre on 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and promotional money laundering. He was arrested in Tempe shortly afterward and his trial on fraud charges linked to his vitamin-selling business was due to start tomorrow.
He reportedly attempted suicide by slashing his femoral artery when federal marshals arrived to arrest him.
'The Greatest Vitamin in the World' pitchman was accused of overseeing and promoting a misleading opportunity. Officials allege that he defrauded investors and customers by selling them worthless vitamins that didn't live up to his extravagant advertising claims.
Lapre is alleged to have used his trademark emphatic TV pitch style to recruit some 220,000 investors and customers, who handed over almost $52 million before his business was shut down in 2007.
He came to fame on TV pitch shows like 'Making Money From A Tiny One Bedroom Apartment,' and his sales technique relied heavily on recounting his hard-luck life story to viewers. He claimed to have made a fortune by running numerous tiny classified ads in thousands of newspapers around the country.
Lapre encouraged viewers to turn their lives around like he said he had and regaled them with tales of how he had made $50,000 a week out of his one-bedroom apartment.
At one stage Lapre was so well-known that his schtick was parodied by David Spade on 'Saturday Night Live.'
A statement on his website challenges the idea that he made millions out of the vitamins business: "I tried to create the best product on earth, paid out millions, made very little trying to make it a success, had attorneys review my entire company, paid out millions in refunds. ... I did not have the perfect company but never once did I allow one thing to be done that would violate any law."[/quote]
[url]http://www.aoltv.com/2011/10/03/infomercial-star-don-lapre-found-dead-in-jail/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cbabylon%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%7C100912[/url]
damn, that's shitty
I thought this was going to be about Vince Offer (shamwow guy), though he might be out of jail now, I dunno
I think he'd face a much more worse fate if he were alive.
[QUOTE=Turnips5;32608422]damn, that's shitty
I thought this was going to be about Vince Offer (shamwow guy), though he might be out of jail now, I dunno[/QUOTE]
That was years ago, I think he'd have been out by now. I don't think he ever actually went to jail though.
Wow, I live like 30 mins away from that place
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMMxIAn_76g[/media]
Related
That guy calls himself "the king of infomercials? I beg to differ. Billy Mays was the shit! Still, that royally sucks. D:
I guess infomercial presenters these days either die, get arrested, or both
[QUOTE=Turnips5;32608422]damn, that's shitty
I thought this was going to be about Vince Offer (shamwow guy), though he might be out of jail now, I dunno[/QUOTE]
Considering he did a ad for/with Eminem, I think he's out of jail
His last infomercial- "How to excape prison in one ez step"
Call now and we'll throw in an extra casket!
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN7cJKXDp44&feature=related[/media]
this is him
[QUOTE=cheesedelux;32608499]That was years ago, I think he'd have been out by now. I don't think he ever actually went to jail though.[/QUOTE]He never was. They held him for a few hours then released him without charges.
[quote]self-styled "King of Infomercials,"[/quote]
Oh please, like anybody could top Billy Mays.
Was the tool of suicide made in Germany?
Those Germans make good stuff.
[QUOTE=Giulio Douhet;32611886]Was the tool of suicide made in Germany?
Those Germans make good stuff.[/QUOTE]
No drip! doesn't make a mess!
[QUOTE=Giulio Douhet;32611886]Was the tool of suicide made in Germany?
Those Germans make good stuff.[/QUOTE]
One, two, three! Three cuts an' it's done!
So the royalty of infomercials is like a list of English Monarchs? One dies, and another claims himself to be king?
How do you pitch this to his family?
[QUOTE=monkey11;32613243]So the royalty of infomercials is like a list of English Monarchs? One dies, and another claims himself to be king?[/QUOTE]
"In the game of thrones you win or you die"
You'd think with the millions he'd swindled, he would have had a mastermind plan to get himself out of jail.
