Mind Power: Television pitchman Kevin Trudeau is headed to prison

By Leslie Holland

updated 6:14 AM EDT, Tue March 18, 2014

Kevin Trudeau walks through the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, February 11, 2010. In the decade since regulators first accused him of conning consumers into buying his weight-loss books, TV pitchman Trudeau has been ordered off the air, fined nearly $38 million and threatened several times with jail for contempt of court. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Kevin Trudeau was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Monday
The TV pitchman and author was convicted by a jury in 2013
Trudeau was found guilty of misrepresenting his weight-loss books
Prosecutors called Trudeau an "uncontrollable huckster"

(CNN) -- Kevin Trudeau, the television pitchman and author who amassed a fortune telling consumers his secrets about how to get free money, how to lose weight and how to cure a number of illnesses the natural way, is headed to federal prison.

Trudeau, 51, was sentenced to 10 years on Monday for criminal contempt for violating a 2004 federal court order that prohibited him from making misleading infomercials and misrepresenting his weight-loss books. During Monday's sentencing hearing he also got a tongue-lashing from U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago.

"Since the age of 25, (Trudeau) has attempted to cheat others for his own personal gain," Guzman said in Monday's sentencing hearing.

In a sentencing memo, prosecutors called Trudeau an "unrepentant, untiring, and uncontrollable huckster who has defrauded the unsuspecting for 30 years."

Trudeau was convicted of criminal contempt by a jury in November 2013 and has been in federal custody since his conviction.

Evidence was presented at his trial that Trudeau appeared in three infomercials in 2006 and 2007, and in those infomercials he misrepresented the contents of one of his weight-loss books. The U.S. attorney said those infomercials were not only untrue, but they violated the 2004 court order that prohibited the infomercials.

According to his book covers, several of his books have been number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

Trudeau's defense attorney Tom Kirsch told CNN Monday night that his client intends to file a notice of appeal in the case.

CNN's Gregory Wallace contributed to this report