NEW YORK (AP) - A Massachusetts businessman has been convicted in New York of defrauding investors in two biotechnology companies.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman says Patrick Muraca of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, told investors in MetaboRX and NanoMolecularDX that their money would be used on cancer-fighting technology.

Instead, prosecutors say he misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars. They say business funds were used for rent, mortgage payments, expenses related to his fiancee’s restaurant, and at a tattoo and piercing parlor.

According to The Berkshire Eagle , the defense plans to appeal. It said the commingling of business and personal expenses was merely a matter of bad bookkeeping.

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