Guy Who Invented ‘One Weird Old Tip’ Spam Ads Found Dead in Jail Cell
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.
Then as the scam evolved, the “guy in his one room apartment” got a sex change and became a “single mom who lives near you!” because they think women are more likely to fall for this shit?