Michael Eugene Kelly (6 October 1949 – 22 December 2013) was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico[1] who operated a number of fraudulent resort enterprises and the Avanti Motor Corporation.
In 2007, with 23 others, he was accused by the FBI and the United States Attorney's Office of operating an enormous Ponzi scheme that defrauded over a thousand elderly and senior citizens of their retirement money.
He claimed to earn $55,000 a year and had only $48,000 in assets, yet he offered a private jet, four yachts and a race track as collateral at his detention hearing.
[5] On June 30, 2012, he remained in prison as the court liquidated assets with a view to providing partial restitution to victims of the Ponzi scheme.
In December 2012, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison with a $10-million bond to secure lenient periods of house arrest for treatment of colorectal cancer.