Who is Richard E. Kelly?
Remember at the end of the Wizard of Oz where a man was found behind the curtain controlling everything?
That’s probably an apt description of him. A self-made millionaire per his own story who retired at an early age and wrote a series of ex JW memoirs that nobody read. When AAWA kicked off, Kelly was the one who funded it and served as Treasurer when Lloyd (oops - “John Cedars”) was President. He flew at his own expense Lloyd and his wife, Bo Juel, and other early AAWA acolytes to his Tucson abode.
True story - at their post dinner soirée fueled by expensive wine, Lloyd proposed something that Bo Juel said sounded stupid. At length Lloyd stood up crying, and announced that him and his wife were leaving because of what Bo said. Bo tried to reason he didn’t call Lloyd himself stupid but that the idea was. Lloyd preferred the scene he wanted to make and was the first to leave. He later claimed Bo was hitting on his wife.
Richard has been bankrolling Lloyd from the very beginning and was the mystery man Marc Latham was calling out in the last livestream a week ago. It is unknown as to what level he is still giving Lloyd money if at all, but he is known as a two-faced person who has made fun of Lloyd behind his back but would support him publicly.
He retains an aura of mystery as he is absent from social media and plays a role largely in the background. He’s the Don Corleone of the ex JW world and if you want to found your own non-profit and get a lump sum of money to kick it off, he’s the guy you go to.
