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Police Say Former Millionaire Staged His Own Shooting to Frame Son
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - What the former MIT professor and wealthy businessman
told police sounded like a scene from a bad spy novel: He was shot by two
masked men with Russian accents, and saved only because two of the bullets
bounced off his belt buckle.
Five months later came the indictment - against him.
Prosecutors say John J. Donovan Sr. staged his own shooting to gain an
advantage in a legal battle with his own children for control of trusts that
he claims are worth at least $180 million. He's accused of trying to get
back at his oldest son by falsely accusing him of hiring his would-be
killers.
The accusations and the civil case - and even a daughter's molestation
allegation - are overshadowing the career of a man once dubbed "the Johnny
Carson of the training circuit."
Donovan, 65, a business professor at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology from 1969 to 1997, made a name for himself as a technology guru.
He commanded big fees as a sought-after speaker to Fortune 500 companies,
started more than a dozen companies and published 11 books.
Donovan is charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor that
carries a maximum one-year sentence. His trial is scheduled to begin Friday
in Middlesex Superior Court.
"John Donovan repeatedly provided false information to police about a crime
that did not occur in order to 'frame' his son for a crime his son did not
commit and had no part in," prosecutors claim in court documents.
Donovan adamantly denies any role in his shooting and insists he was
attacked by two strangers who approached him as he got into his car in the
parking lot of his business, Cambridge Executive Enterprises, on the night
of Dec. 16, 2005.
During the 911 call Donovan made from his cell phone after the shooting, he
told a state police dispatcher that his son James, now 40, "laundered $180
million" and had threatened to kill him.
Prosecutors say Donovan made up the story to exact revenge, but his lawyer
Barry Klickstein calls Donovan "the innocent victim of a violent crime."
"Professor Donovan does not know who shot him. He certainly didn't shoot
himself, and he didn't have himself shot," Klickstein said.
Prosecutors say their evidence includes a surveillance tape showing Donovan,
before the shooting, reaching up and moving a security camera that had been
trained on the parking lot. The tape allegedly shows Donovan moving the
camera so that it captured the ceiling and wall, but not the parking lot
where he later said the shooting took place.
In the pocket of a sports jacket worn by Donovan the night of the shooting,
investigators said they found a cryptic "to-do list" written by Donovan on
the menu of the Algonquin Club, an elite business club in Boston. The
notations included words such as "gloves," "tool," "rifle," and "shells,"
according to court documents.
Prosecutors cite contradictions between Donovan's story to police and the
injuries he received.
Donovan told police he had been shot twice in a large belt buckle he was
wearing. But the emergency room doctor who treated him said he did not see
the type of injuries he would expect if the belt were on when the shots were
fired.
Donovan received a gunshot wound to his left abdomen. In hospital medical
records, it was noted that Donovan "survived relatively unscathed,"
according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
Klickstein would not discuss the surveillance tape or any other evidence
before the trial, but said, "The physical evidence that the district
attorney relies on will not support the charges."
In addition to his various businesses and teaching job at MIT, Donovan was a
clinical professor of pediatrics at Tufts University for 10 years, where he
did research using computer and statistical analysis to track birth defects.
Throughout his long, multi-faceted career, Donovan has made a lot of
enemies. In 2005, he was involved in more than a dozen lawsuits with former
business associates and relatives, including a bitter fight with his five
children over trust assets.
Donovan's children were beneficiaries of just one trust that is worth far
less than the amount claimed by their father, according to a spokeswoman for
four of the five children. The two sides have a mediated settlement, but the
case ended up back in court after a judge found that the elder Donovan did
not comply with the terms of the agreement, according to court documents.
In 2002, one of Donovan's daughters told her siblings that Donovan had
sexually abused her when she was a child. Donovan vehemently denies the
allegation, and said through his attorneys that his children are using it to
gain leverage in the dispute.
People who know Donovan say he is a complex man who inspires both fierce
loyalty and animosity.
"He is a person who has more ideas per second than anybody else in the
world, but not all the ideas are good necessarily," said Stuart Madnick, an
MIT professor who started a computer training business with Donovan in the
1970s. Madnick later sued, saying Donovan failed to pay the $1.4 million he
owed him for buying his share of the business. They ultimately settled the
case.
"On one hand, he has fantastic charisma, and on the other hand, he does
things that can infuriate people," Madnick said.
Police Say Former Millionaire Staged His Own Shooting to Frame Son
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - What the former MIT professor and wealthy businessman
told police sounded like a scene from a bad spy novel: He was shot by two
masked men with Russian accents, and saved only because two of the bullets
bounced off his belt buckle.
Five months later came the indictment - against him.
Prosecutors say John J. Donovan Sr. staged his own shooting to gain an
advantage in a legal battle with his own children for control of trusts that
he claims are worth at least $180 million. He's accused of trying to get
back at his oldest son by falsely accusing him of hiring his would-be
killers.
The accusations and the civil case - and even a daughter's molestation
allegation - are overshadowing the career of a man once dubbed "the Johnny
Carson of the training circuit."
Donovan, 65, a business professor at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology from 1969 to 1997, made a name for himself as a technology guru.
He commanded big fees as a sought-after speaker to Fortune 500 companies,
started more than a dozen companies and published 11 books.
Donovan is charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor that
carries a maximum one-year sentence. His trial is scheduled to begin Friday
in Middlesex Superior Court.
"John Donovan repeatedly provided false information to police about a crime
that did not occur in order to 'frame' his son for a crime his son did not
commit and had no part in," prosecutors claim in court documents.
Donovan adamantly denies any role in his shooting and insists he was
attacked by two strangers who approached him as he got into his car in the
parking lot of his business, Cambridge Executive Enterprises, on the night
of Dec. 16, 2005.
During the 911 call Donovan made from his cell phone after the shooting, he
told a state police dispatcher that his son James, now 40, "laundered $180
million" and had threatened to kill him.
Prosecutors say Donovan made up the story to exact revenge, but his lawyer
Barry Klickstein calls Donovan "the innocent victim of a violent crime."
"Professor Donovan does not know who shot him. He certainly didn't shoot
himself, and he didn't have himself shot," Klickstein said.
Prosecutors say their evidence includes a surveillance tape showing Donovan,
before the shooting, reaching up and moving a security camera that had been
trained on the parking lot. The tape allegedly shows Donovan moving the
camera so that it captured the ceiling and wall, but not the parking lot
where he later said the shooting took place.
In the pocket of a sports jacket worn by Donovan the night of the shooting,
investigators said they found a cryptic "to-do list" written by Donovan on
the menu of the Algonquin Club, an elite business club in Boston. The
notations included words such as "gloves," "tool," "rifle," and "shells,"
according to court documents.
Prosecutors cite contradictions between Donovan's story to police and the
injuries he received.
Donovan told police he had been shot twice in a large belt buckle he was
wearing. But the emergency room doctor who treated him said he did not see
the type of injuries he would expect if the belt were on when the shots were
fired.
Donovan received a gunshot wound to his left abdomen. In hospital medical
records, it was noted that Donovan "survived relatively unscathed,"
according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
Klickstein would not discuss the surveillance tape or any other evidence
before the trial, but said, "The physical evidence that the district
attorney relies on will not support the charges."
In addition to his various businesses and teaching job at MIT, Donovan was a
clinical professor of pediatrics at Tufts University for 10 years, where he
did research using computer and statistical analysis to track birth defects.
Throughout his long, multi-faceted career, Donovan has made a lot of
enemies. In 2005, he was involved in more than a dozen lawsuits with former
business associates and relatives, including a bitter fight with his five
children over trust assets.
Donovan's children were beneficiaries of just one trust that is worth far
less than the amount claimed by their father, according to a spokeswoman for
four of the five children. The two sides have a mediated settlement, but the
case ended up back in court after a judge found that the elder Donovan did
not comply with the terms of the agreement, according to court documents.
In 2002, one of Donovan's daughters told her siblings that Donovan had
sexually abused her when she was a child. Donovan vehemently denies the
allegation, and said through his attorneys that his children are using it to
gain leverage in the dispute.
People who know Donovan say he is a complex man who inspires both fierce
loyalty and animosity.
"He is a person who has more ideas per second than anybody else in the
world, but not all the ideas are good necessarily," said Stuart Madnick, an
MIT professor who started a computer training business with Donovan in the
1970s. Madnick later sued, saying Donovan failed to pay the $1.4 million he
owed him for buying his share of the business. They ultimately settled the
case.
"On one hand, he has fantastic charisma, and on the other hand, he does
things that can infuriate people," Madnick said.
