On Monday, US Federal Judge Ronald Guzman said Trudeau had been cheating people since he was 25 years old for his own personal gain, and handed down the 10 year sentence as requested by prosecutors.
Defense lawyers had argued the 50-year-old from suburban Chicago should serve less than two years for his criminal-contempt conviction.
Before the sentencing, Trudeau made his own pitch, saying he felt remorse and that he's had a personal transformation or "rebirth."
In a scathing filing last week, prosecutors called Trudeau "an unrepentant ... huckster" and said they could think of no comparable case of someone cheating people so brazenly. The defense called the characterization "overblown and unfair."
"He takes full responsibility for everything he did, and he's human, like all of us," Ruth David, supporter, said. "I think, like scripture says, he who has not sinned throw the first stone."
Trudeau plans to appeal, his defense attorney said.
In November, jurors convicted Trudeau for defying a court order barring him from running infomercials that made false claims about his book, "The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You to Know About."
Prosecutors say he aired the infomercials anyway, at least 32,000 times.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
