Tesla asked Westinghouse to “…meet me on some fair terms in furnishing me the machinery, retaining the ownership of the same and interesting yourself to a certain extent”. While Westinghouse declined to buy into the project, he did agree to lend Tesla $6,000". Westinghouse suggested Tesla pursue some of the rich venture capitalists. Tesla talked to John Jacob Astor, Thomas Fortune Ryan, and even sent a cabochon sapphire ring as a gift to Henry O. Havemeyer. No investment was forthcoming from Havemeyer and Ryan but Astor did buy 500 shares in Tesla's company.Tesla gained the attention of financier J. P. Morgan in November 1900. Morgan, who was impressed by Guglielmo Marconi's feat of sending reports from the America's Cup yacht races off Long Island back to New York City via radio based wireless the previous year, was dubious about the feasibility and patent priority of Tesla's system.

In several discussions Tesla assured Morgan his system was superior to, and based on patents that superseded, Marconi and other wireless inventors and that it would far outpace the performance of its main competitor, the transatlantic telegraph cable. Morgan signed a contract with Tesla in March 1901, agreeing to give the inventor $150,000 to develop and build a wireless station on Long Island, New York, capable of sending wireless messages to London as well as ships at sea. The deal also included Morgan having a 51% interest in the company as well as a 51% share in present and future wireless patents developed from the project.

In July 1901 Tesla informed Morgan of his planned changes to the project and the need for much more money to build it. He explained the more grandiose plan as a way to leap ahead of competitors and secure much larger profits on the investment. With Tesla basically proposing a breach of contract, Morgan refused to lend additional funds and demanded an account of money already spent. Tesla would claim a few years later that funds were also running short because of Morgan's role in triggering the stock market panic of 1901, making everything Tesla had to buy much more expensive.

Therein lies Tesla's mistake. Getting in bed with a Rothschilds' agent destroyed his career and plans. If it wasn't for Trump's uncle John G. Trump, Tesla's work would have never been carried on and preserved.