TV pitchman Don Lapre found dead in cell after apparent suicide

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(CBS) Authorities say TV pitchman Don Lapre was found dead after an apparent suicide in an Arizona jail cell on Sunday morning. Officials say they are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death. It was only a few days before his $52 million fraud trial was set to begin.

The 47-year-old had been charged with 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and promotional money laundering with his company, "The Greatest Vitamin in the World."

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Lapre called himself "The King of Infomercials" on his website; he gained notoriety from his numerous late night advertisements, including "Making Money From A Tiny One Bedroom Apartment," where he claimed he made $50,000 a week from his small apartment. The infomercials were parodied on "Saturday Night Live," and made fun of on the "Late Show with David Letterman."

The indictment claims the Arizona-based TV pitchman received millions from his scam between 2004 to 2007. He was accused of tricking at least 220,000 people with worthless Internet-based businesses mostly revolving around a pyramid scheme to sell vitamins that did not provide the health benefits he claimed. His company was shut down in 2007 due to multiple complaints.

If convicted, he would have faced between $250,000 to $500,000 per count and five to 25 years in federal prison.

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Celebrity mug shots

[maxaman25]

Suppose Don was a scam artist. Then why is no one blaming the networks that carried his infomercials for more than a decade? Anyone who knows anything about this type of marketing realizes most of the revenue get's spent on the TV infomercial itself.

The point is the networks that carried his infomercials were bigger scam artists than he was. Why does no one see this?

Here's another point. Where was our government during the decade or more he was running his scams? They knew what was going on but they did nothing. Want to know why? Because the networks didn't want the government to stop him. They were making too much money!

Watch for yourself in the future. Infomercials follow typical patterns. They start off hot and gradually "burn ou"t over time. Once they "burn out" that's when the government comes in and does something about the scam artists. But they never step in right away...too much money is being made by the networks.

The whole system in the US is corrupt. Don Lapre was only the tip of the iceberg.

[krinder]

It was a complex program too complex for some. some items that were created by others and sold by placing tiny classified adds in the papers accross the world have actauly done better than what he has advertised. its fun its something to do and no one gets hurt like every thing there is fails, wrong address broken item checks bounce its all about working with the sucess Do not let the Fails slow you down

[LanceGroom]

The Don Lapre Memorial Video - Casting Crowns - Courageous

WATCH Video Below:

http://youtu.be/2XoRdIUCGWg

[krinder]

My condolences to the family Rest-in-Peace Don Lapre if your product did not work the fails did

[krinder]

He needed better money and customer management skills 22 thousand people that needed some sort of attention or service the way he did things he could have sold imaginary wooden nickels for a lot more

[krinder]

There are a countless number of people that did not pay complete attention to the product and requirements he had invested in each participant though each participant did not follow through have you seen phone account cancelation fees they are not affordable
Yea internet business expensive stat up learning the ropes the fraction of the cost

[krinder]

It was reported that 52,000,000.00 million was scammed from two hundred and twenty thousand people which is about 237.00 dollars per person easy mistake in the info business which could be accidently done selling 900 numbers or internet business

though a small percentage was able to make the info work

[YoungJeezy_]

Good for him. At least he went through with offing himself. This guy was a complete clown. Anyone that fell for his antics is a moron. Its incredible that he was able to con banks into stealing money from them. Good luck getting that money back. I am guessing its long gone. He deserved whatever he got and the banks and others who gave him money deserve what they got. Its so refreshing to hear someone did the right thing and hung themselves. Its a shame Madhoff and ANYONE from Enron has not done the same although Kenneth Lay already died in jail. Thank god!

[krinder]

I have to admit getting attention from 22,000 people is one thing though reciveing money for a complicted product can be a bit anoying if everyone did teh same thing he did would it make a differnece

[LanceGroom]

Please Sign Don Lapre's Memorial. I am drawing a line in the sand... enough is enough. Don's family and kids have been through enough. post something bad on Don's Memorial site and I guarantee YOU WILL NOT like our response... This site is Heavily moderated and guarded by our sentry's. Don, may you rest in peace brother... Go here to sign his memorial now... http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/Don-Lapre-Memorial/homepage.aspx

[GoUnion86]

Don Lapre's tiny little obituary can now be placed in thousands of newspapers across the country. I'm sorry for his family, but this guy conned alot of people.

[YoungJeezy_]

Ha thats pretty good. I only remember him trying to flip houses or some scam similar. I just remember how annoying he was EMPHASISING EVERY SINGLE WORD. So annoyoing. I like how on his own website it states " If you have something bad to say then please think again, you may not like our response." Thats when you know you have screwed over a lot of people when you have to openly threaten people that have something bad to say about this piece of trash.