Linda Stein at The Times, Trenton on Genesis

Read Duped investors to recoup a portion of their losses before November 25th while it's still free. Stein paraphrases Deputy Attorney General Patrick Flor

Kelly was described as an "ex cellent salesman who fooled a lot of people." About 500 of those who in vested in his company were from Mercer and Burlington counties, though his company apparently was never registered, even though Kelly claimed it was a Delaware corporation. Investigators found Kelly used the money for other purposes such as spending $200,000 on eight cars for himself and $80,000 for a fountain for his home.

At sentencing, Kelly told the judge

"I'm heartbroken this happened," Kelly said. "I really believed in this project. We worked very hard on this project for seven years. The choices I made were with the expectation the project would go well."

It starts with really believing and it ends with selling stock in a company that doesn't exist and spending the money on cars and Koi ponds while you tell investors that you are building products.

Stein notes also

The judge noted that Kelly had a limited criminal record but it did include a 1995 conviction for conspiracy and making false statements to a government agency in Rochester, Minn.

Thats must have eluded the New Jersey based promoters who claimed to the investors to do a background check on Kelly.

Also brought out in the Times article is that Kelly's assistant John Yoka has 5 patents. A Pet Locating Collar is the only one I can find.