Don Lapre of Tiny Newspaper Ads Infomercial Dies in Custody 47

Donald "Don" D. Lapre (born May 19, 1964 – October 2, 2011) was an American TV pitchman. Lapre was a high school dropout, who became a multi-level marketing salesman and infomercial huckster. His work involved such products as "The Greatest Vitamin in the World" and the "Making Money Package", and he was criticized as selling questionable business plans that often did not work for his clients. In June 2011, Lapre was charged with 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and promotional money laundering related to his internet businesses and he was arrested on June 24, 2011 for failing to appear in court to face these charges.

Don Lapre Cause of Death
While in jail, Lapre committed suicide on the morning of October 2, 2011.

Don Lapre Sells Tiny Classified Ads

Timeline:
Consumer watchdog organizations such as Quackwatch had accused Lapre of peddling get-rich-quick schemes. Web sites such as the Ripoff Report had numerous consumer complaints about Lapre and his products and business practices. Lapre had been quoted as saying, "...I really don't give a rat's ass about what people think about me."

According to a June 15, 2011, Associated Press article, Lapre was indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix, AZ on June 8, 2011 on accusations of running a nationwide scheme to sell worthless Internet businesses. Federal prosecutors have accused Lapre of bilking over 220,000 victims out of nearly $52 million. He has been charged with 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, promotional money laundering, and transactional money laundering.

On June 22, 2011, a Federal judge issued a bench warrant for Lapre after he failed to show up for his arraignment on 41 counts of fraud.

On June 27, 2011, Don Lapre was arrested at a Lifetime Fitness location in Tempe, AZ, with serious self inflicted knife wounds to his groin, and had reportedly lived in the Lifetime Fitness location for 2 days.