By Michael Tarm
CHICAGO (AP) --TV pitchman Kevin Trudeau has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for bilking consumers via infomercials for his best-selling weight loss book.
Before sentencing the 50-year-old Trudeau in Chicago federal court Monday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman said that for decades Trudeau "steadfastly attempted to cheat others for his own personal gain."
Trudeau apologized, saying he was a changed man.
Prosecutors had said they could think of no comparable case of someone cheating people so brazenly. They said Trudeau deserved a sentence of at least 10 years. But defense attorneys said he should serve no more than two years.
Trudeau sold more than 850,000 copies of his book, "The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You to Know About." He touted it in commercials that often employed news-interview formats.
Ubisoft shares jump following reports of Tencent, Guillemot family considering buyout
Shares of Ubisoft jumped more than 30% Friday, following reports that Tencent and the Guillemot family are considering a buyout of the video game maker.
Bloomberg news reported that Tencent and Guillemot family — minority stakeholders in Ubisoft — have been discussing ways to stabilize the company after it lost more than half its market value this year. Shares surged 33.5% to about $15.57 Friday, according to FactSet.
Ubisoft declined to comment. Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
France-based Ubisoft is the publisher behind the well-known franchise "Assassin's Creed." Ubisoft's shares fell last month to their lowest point in more than a decade after its latest title "Star Wars Outlaws" underperformed and the company announced that it would delay the latest "Assassin's Creed" game.
Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft's CEO, said in a statement last week that the company's "second quarter performance fell short of our expectations."
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