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PHOENIX - Indicted infomercial pitchman Donald Lapre, of Phoenix, who previously failed to appear at his arraignment on 41 counts for Conspiracy, Mail Fraud, Wire Fraud,Promotional Money Laundering and Transactional Money Laundering, will remain in custody pending trial. At a hearing in Phoenix today, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence O. Anderson ordered that Lapre be detained as a flight risk.

In the course of the hearing, the prosecution noted that Lapre had received notice of his
scheduled arraignment and failed to appear, and that while he had recently been residing in
Maricopa County, the investigating agencies were unable to locate any record of his current
address through checks related to a residence, motor vehicle, driver's license, telephone, or private post office box. The indictment alleges that the 47-year-old Lapre oversaw and promoted a nationwide scheme to sell essentially worthless Internet-based businesses to over 220,000 victims through his company "The Greatest Vitamin in the World."

According to the indictment, from April 2003 through October 2007, Lapre allegedly
conspired with others to defraud thousands of victims all across the country by encouraging them
to invest in an Internet-based business. The "business" primarily consisted of selling the Greatest
Vitamin in the World over the Internet and the opportunity to sell the opportunity to do the
same thing to others.

At the height of the scheme, Lapre had enlisted approximately 226,794 people to sell a limited number of products via individual websites. Along with selling tens of thousands of Internet-based businesses which were essentially worthless, Lapre fraudulently provided his investor/victims, known as "Independent Advertisers" , with false vitamin sales records.

These records encouraged IAs to purchase additional advertising and services in the hope of obtaining commissions including $1,000 checks. Lapre also fraudulently sold bulk Internet traffic to IAs while claiming that it was targeted to individuals who were seeking to either buy vitamins or invest in similar businesses. GVW sales representatives regularly signed up victims as IAs even if they did not own a computer.

During the course of the scheme, at least 220,000 victim/IAs were defrauded of approximately $51.8 million. During this same period, approximately $6.3 million in commissions were paid to approximately 5,000 victim/IAs.

Trial is currently set for October 4, 2011.