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Richard S. Hartunian, United StatesAttorney for the Northern District of New York, and Clifford C. Holly, SpecialAgent in Charge, Albany Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, make thefollowing announcement:
Thomas E. Kelly, 64, of Johnson City, NewYork, was sentenced today in United States District Court to a term ofimprisonment of four years and three months in connection with his previouslyentered plea of guilty to the felony crime of mail fraud. In addition, UnitedStates District Court Judge Norman Mordue imposed a term of five years’supervised release, which will follow completion of Kelly’s prison sentence.
At the time of his plea in February2012, Kelly admitted that for a period of at least 15 years, ending in November2010, he perpetrated a scheme to defraud and obtain money by false andfraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, and he used the UnitedStates mail in furtherance of his scheme to defraud. During the years of thefraud, Kelly was employed as a financial consultant by a number of bankslocated in the Binghamton, New York area. In his position as financialconsultant, Kelly recommended that clients sell off legitimate securitiesinvestments in order to invest in a fictitious entity Kelly called SenecaGroup. Kelly promised investors with Seneca Group a stable, secure investment.Instead, Kelly used money invested with Seneca Group to, among other things,make risky investments in the stock market and pay some of Kelly’s personalexpenses. Over the years of the fraud, at least 19 individuals invested inSeneca Group due to Kelly’s recommendation. The amount of loss to investors asa result of Kelly’s scheme was almost one million dollars.
The nature of Ponzi-type schemes such asthis one is that some investors request the return of “interest,” principal, orsome similar request. Individuals who conduct Ponzi-type schemes often returnsome money to some investors in order to keep the scheme alive. For example, ifsome money is returned as requested, investors are likely to reinvest andrecommend to others investment with, in this case, Kelly’s Seneca Group.
The case was investigated by the FederalBureau of Investigation, Binghamton Resident Agency, and it was prosecuted byAssistant United States Attorney Thomas P. Walsh. Further inquiries may bedirected to the telephone numbers listed above, or to the United StatesAttorney’s Office, Binghamton Office, at (607) 343-3711.
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