Rossi talked about this on Coast to Coast AM:
“I said to myself I had to arrive not with a theory or with a toy on a table. I have to arrive with a product. In fact we will begin to earn money in October after the successful start up of the plant of one megawatt. Until that moment all the moment on the table has been and will be my money. The only money that has been risked is my money. This way I have cut all the voices about this guy is trying to make some trick, etc, etc. Any attempts to diminish the importance of the technology has been foiled. Because it is clear if somebody puts all his money in a thing if this is a trick he is just tricking himself. The rules are very clear here. Money will change hands only if the plant will work. No good work no money for anybody and a loss of money for me.”
That is what a con artist calls “The Come on”
This weeds out all the little suckers and the people not totally taken in with the con. The mark approaches the con and begs to be let in on the ground floor.
This is conning 101.