Billy Mays
Famous for his TV commercials for OxiClean, Orange Glo and Kaboom, the 50-year-old salesman died of a heart attack in 2009. A toxicology reports found evidence of cocaine use that was a "contributory cause of death."
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Image Credit: Photo Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File -
Creflo Dollar
Image Credit: Photo Credit: AP Photo/Fayette County Sheriff's Office, File The American televangelist, pastor and founder of World Changers Church International, based in Fulton County, Ga., was arrested for allegedly choking his 15-year-old daughter in 2012. Dollar successfully had battery charges dropped against him after he completed an anger management program in 2013. In addition to his congregation in Georgia, Dollar preaches to a 6,000-member church in New York.
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Creflo Dollar
Image Credit: Photo Credit: AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Phil Skinner Dollar successfully had battery charges dropped against him after he completed an anger management program in 2013. In addition to his congregation in Georgia, Dollar preaches to a 6,000-member church in New York.
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Jim Bakker
Image Credit: Photo Credit: AP Photo/Wade Payne Bakker, an American televangelist, former Assemblies of God minister and former host of The PTL Club, went through divorce and imprisonment for a sex scandal and accounting fraud, prompting him to resign from the ministry. He remarried in 1998 and returned to televangelism.
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Juanita Bynum
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Photo by Henry S. Dziekan III/Getty Images Bynum, an author, pastor, gospel artist and actress, was arrested in April 2013 for failing to appear in a Dallas civil proceeding against her. Bynum claimed the incident involved fraud from the other party.
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Kevin Trudeau
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/MCT/Newscom Trudeau was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March 2014 for violating a 2004 court order that prohibited him from appearing in infomercials, among other things. He's been accused of cheating people out of millions of dollars through his fraudulent products, including weight-loss book The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About. According to USA Today, Trudeau sold more than 850,000 copies with a revenue of $39 million. At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman slammed him as "deceitful to the core."
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Vince Offer
Image Credit: Photo Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles The pitchman for absorbent towel ShamWow was caught up in a sex scandal when he beat up an alleged prostitute and was arrested in 2009. In September 2013, Offer announced a new cleaning product as a comeback from his charges — a cleaning product titled "InVinceable."
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Robert Freeman
Image Credit: Photo Credit: Photo by Michael Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Images Freeman, a southern Maryland pastor, was sentenced to more than two years in prison in August 2012 for allegedly hiding church assets to escape paying his debt. The 56-year-old pastor, also known as "Dr. Shine," admitted he lied during bankruptcy charges and took responsibility for his actions.
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Miss Cleo
From 1997 to 2002, Miss Cleo was the spokesperson for the Psychic Readers Network, which took in, as a whole, over $1 billion. In 1999, Court TV exposed the service's false advertising, fraud psychics and unlawful business practices. Callers would get charged $60 after believing their readings were free. Cleo also changed her name multiple times, from Cleomili Harris to Youree Perris, Cleo Harris and Rae Dell Harris. According to a 2009 interview with Spokesman-Review, Miss Cleo lives in Florida and performs readings as a "voodoo priestess."