I was totally like WTF when I saw the very first Altucher email promoting cryptocurrencies because I had been following his stuff for several months and prior to that he had nothing to say on the subject of cryptocurrencies. I immediately said "bullshit" and after clicking through to the sales page lost all respect for him. The whole point of the "newsletter" and "information" was a massive money grab by JA. That first email led to an obvious funnel and over the coming weeks I saw increasing emails, advertisements and promotions - all so obviously geared at getting you into his sales funnel.
He probably made a shit-ton of money with that campaign.