[1] On May 3, 2022, Donovan Sr. was convicted of a dozen felony counts of fraud and forgery in a jury trial, for attempting to steal assets from his son's widow and children.

"[29] On July 2, 2020, a judge found Donovan liable for nearly $3 million in damages, attorney's fees and interest for using funds invested in a failed startup for personal expenses.

Donovan was using investor funds to pay for country club membership, hair treatments, property tax bills, and other expenses, Judge Brian Davis wrote in his decision.

The shareholder suit alleged that Donovan used "the firm to support his own lifestyle and not for the benefit of the company, in which he made no financial investment of his own".

[32] Donovan "carefully composed the crime scene - in which a car window was shattered by a bullet and spent .22-caliber cartridges were scattered in the parking lot - to make it appear that he had been targeted for murder by his family.

"[33] It was further determined that John J. Donovan purposefully altered the viewing angles of the surveillance cameras in the areas where the crime was committed.

According to Attorney General Martha Coakley and testimony at Donovan's trial, Donovan shot himself in the abdomen, shot up his own minivan, kept a spent bullet in his mouth, rearranged a surveillance camera to prevent the recording of his hoax, and laid out the entire plan in a form of shorthand on the dinner menu of the Algonquin Club to which he belonged.

[34][35] John Donovan, Sr. is subject to a lifetime Stay Away Order of the Massachusetts Superior Court dated July 9, 2009, as amended November 2, 2016.

A spokesman for the Cambridge Police Department, Frank Pasquarello, was quoted as saying "There are a lot of people who worked hard that night (of the shooting)."

"So Donovan Jr., the owner of the Manchester Athletic Club and of millions of dollars worth of other holdings, carefully documented his final wishes, in writing and on video.

Professor Donovan then took the videos that he recorded and doctored them in such a way as to indicate that John Jr. desired to leave millions of dollars to his father, which was absolutely false.

The elder Donovan's actions allegedly allowed him to gain the titles of properties in Hamilton, Manchester, Beverly, and Essex, according to the DA's office.

"[38] In an article published in the Salem News discussing the proceedings, Judge Martin issued detailed findings: "...the arbitrator overseeing the case, John Martin,... wrote, because of Donovan Sr.'s "history of misrepresenting and ignoring all that has gone before, his unwillingness to abide by the agreements he has made and his propensity for making unfounded allegations".

[42] In the same matter, Donovan was sentenced to two years in prison when found guilty of a dozen felony counts of forgery and fraud.

According to The Salem News, "John Donovan Sr. was "malicious to the core", a man who, once confronted with allegations that he'd abused one of his daughters, engaged in a 20-year campaign of revenge, his late son's best friend told the judge.

Assistant district attorney David O'Sullivan added, "The crimes were brazen in their scope, reflecting both keen intelligence and resourcefulness and an arrogant belief in his ability to deceive and escape detection.

The elaborate nature of these schemes, and the time and careful effort spent in attempting to carry them off, reflect a focused, even obsessive, persistence in effectuating a criminal goal.

"[44] In a subsequent hearing, Judge Tabit observed that "due to Donovan's own history of manipulations and lies, it was impossible to tell whether his condition was genuine or another one of his elaborate hoaxes.

"[45] In March 2023, Donovan asked the Superior Court to stay his sentence pending appeal, which if granted would release him immediately.

[48] Through his charitable organization Children's Potential Unlimited, he donated computers to Connery Elementary School in Lynn, Massachusetts.

He has stopped at nothing to try and ruin his children's lives with endless lawsuits, despicably false smears and deranged conspiracy theories in which he is always portrayed as the victim.

At Lynn High, a teacher noticed his unique ability to find patterns of mathematics and replicate them, and asked him to teach his peers.