What was Don Lapre's net worth?
Don Lapre was an American TV pitchman and had a peak net worth of $10 million. Don Lapre was an infamous multi-level marketing and infomercial salesman. His work involved product packages such as "The Greatest Vitamin in the World" and "Making Money Secrets". He called himself "The King of Infomercials" on his website.
Don Lapre was born on May 19, 1964 in Providence, Rhode Island. 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. He once held the title of being the King of Classified Ads.
In 1990s he and his wife started a credit repair business called Unknown Concepts. In 1992, he began broadcasting The Making Money Show with Don Lapre, which told that viewers could make money as easily as he had. The Food and Drug Administration warned him 2005 and 2006 about claims his vitamins were intended as a drug for diseases such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, insomnia, cancer, and arthritis.
On June 8, 2011, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix, Arizona, on accusations of running a nationwide scheme to sell worthless Internet businesses. He was accused of bilking roughly 220,000 people out of $52 million with worthless Internet-based businesses mostly revolving around a pyramid scheme to sell vitamins that did not provide the health benefits he claimed. He was charged with 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, promotional money laundering, and transactional money laundering.
Lapre failed to appear at his arraignment on June 22, 2011, and a federal judge subsequently issued a bench warrant. On June 27, 2011, Lapre was arrested in Tempe, Arizona. He died in custody from an apparent suicide on October 2, 2011. He was survived by his wife Sally and their two children.
