Rhino
08-02-2007, 08:57 AM
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....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291798,00.html
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....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291798,00.html