Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Scammed So Many People - The John Donald Cody Story

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

John Donald Cody is a Harvard-educated lawyer and former U.S. Army intelligence officer who spent decades as a fugitive after disappearing from his Arizona law practice in the 1980s amid allegations he stole client funds. Decades later, using the alias Bobby Thompson, he founded the United States Navy Veterans Association, a bogus charity that raised tens of millions of dollars from donors under the pretense of helping Navy veterans, but instead siphoned off funds and even made political donations, all while hiding behind a fake identity and mail-drop addresses.

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But here's the thing about John Donald. He's a lawyer but he's also pretty much a shady asshole. He's the kind of lawyer who makes false statements in court and misses court dates and he even threatens other lawyers. He's just a terrible guy. But one day in 1983, two women walk in into his office, and they tell him that a relative died and left them a large inheritance. And they just need his help accessing it.

And John Donald's like, all right. And he actually does his job. He helps them get access to the estate account and it contains $99,000. Now all he has to do is transfer it over to them. And that is when John Donald starts thinking, what if I don't transfer it over to them? What if I just keep the money and disappear? However, he doesn't actually do that, but because he realizes that if he just disappears, everyone will know that he stole the money, and he doesn't want that.

He wants to look like a hero. So he decides to lie to people, and he makes up a story. He tells everyone around him that he's secretly investigating some drug ring and that some corrupt officials are involved. And in case things get dangerous for him, he might suddenly have to leave town without warning. This way, if he vanishes, people will think that he's this brave man who's exposing this incredible crime and not a thief. And his friends actually believe his story. They're like, cool, man, take care. So John Donald takes all this money and he just flees.

He doesn't tell anyone where he's going. Later, the two women he was helping realized that they haven't heard from him in a while and they try calling him, but they get no answer. And after a while, they realized that John Donald, he just straight up ran off with their money. So they go to the police, and police start investigating. And as they look into this, they realize that this isn't the only theft John Donald is involved in. He's also been doing other schemes like trying to open brokerage accounts and taking out loans using fake identities. And at some point, the FBI gets involved and they start investigating.

And around 1987, they issue a warrant for his arrest. Here's actually a wanted poster with him on it. So now multiple law enforcement agencies are looking for him. But by this time, John Donald, he's gone. Like, after leaving Arizona, he never stays in one place. He's constantly moving from state to state, changing his name, changing the way he looks, doing everything he can to make sure that no one figures out that he is a wanted criminal. And everywhere he goes, he finds more and more ways to scam more.

and more people. He commits commodities fraud in San Francisco, then he moves to Seattle where he runs a fake fundraising scheme. He'll pretend to raise money for different charity causes, and when people donate, he'll just take their money and disappear. And he keeps doing this across Mexico and California, and even Vancouver, Canada. And over a decade goes by. And it's now 1998, and he's still going. And it's During this time, John Donald moves to Tampa, Florida. And there, he changes his identity again, and he gives himself a new name, and he tells everyone that he's a retired Army lieutenant who served in military intelligence. But here's where his scams get really big.

So, years pass, and it's now 2002. And John Donald starts up a scam charity that he calls the U.S. Veterans Association. And he claims that this charity provides financial support for U.S. support for U.S. veterans, it really doesn't, though. So he sets it all up and he creates a web page and he starts soliciting for donations. And a lot of people in America want to help veterans. So they start donating. But unfortunately for John Donald, I guess this is all moving pretty slow, too slow for him. And he wants to make money fast. So he hires some telemarketers to help him reach out to people and find new donors. He also starts working with some fundraising companies and their job is to find people and get them to donate as well.

And surprisingly, all this works. And soon donations just start pouring in. So John Donald is finally making some money. Oh, but he's not done yet. Over time, he pushes this scam even further. Because he starts claiming that his charity is expanding rapidly and has chapters and offices nationwide, it doesn't. But he tells people.

this and this encourages even more people to donate. So all this money is coming in and John Donald is having a great time with all this. Like I assume he's buying himself all kinds of shit with these funds. He's also donating a lot of this stolen money to political fundraisers. I guess he's a big Republican so he donates to a lot of Republican causes and he starts getting invited to stuff. And he starts taking photos with high ranking politicians. Here he is with George W. Bush, who was president at the time. Here he is with the House Speaker at the time, John Boehner. And so he'll take these photos and then he'll use them to promote his charity. Like he's this big, important guy who like hangs out with the president or whatever. And to be

fair, this actually works. Once people see him affiliated with these high-ranking politicians, the donations hit a new level. And now millions of dollars are pouring in. And of course, he's not donating this to veterans like he should be, only a tiny fraction of the money goes to veterans, just enough to make his charity seem legit. The rest of the money goes straight into John Donald's pocket. And so seven years go by, and it's now 2009. And by this point, John Donald, he's apparently paid himself around $3 million from this charity. So I imagine he's feeling pretty good. But here's where he starts to run into some problems. One day, a reporter, this guy, Jeff, Jeff is working on a story covering a local politician.

And Jeff notices that John Donald donated some money to this politician. So Jeff schedules an interview at John Donald's place. And once he gets to the apartment, he sees something really strange. Despite all the money that John Donald's donating to all these political campaigns and causes, he actually lives in a crappy rundown apartment. And Jeff, he's immediately confused. He's like, how is this guy who's supposedly rich and influential living like this? And so he and some of his other colleagues at the newspaper, they start investigating John Donald and digging into his background.

And it doesn't take long for them to realize that his whole charity is one big scam. And so Jeff and the newspaper, they publish a story about this whole scheme and the story blows up. So now police are looking for John Donald. And he knows this. So he's like, oh shit! And he goes on the run again. And he flees from state to state to state. And while he's in these new cities, he's surrounded by new people,

and he attempts to scam all of them too. He creates even more fake fundraisers, religious ones this time. And once people donate, he just takes the money and disappears. And he does this for the next two. years, and police still aren't able to catch him. Until... Until one day in 2012, police finally spot him in Portland, Oregon. And of course, he has a different name now,

and he's pretending to be a police officer himself for some reason. Regardless, they know it's him, and bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot. Here's the problem, though. Since he's been using fake names, police don't know who does. John Donald really is. Like, who is this guy? And John Donald doesn't want to tell them who he really is. So one officer starts digging through old fundraising fraud cases online. And that is when he stumbles across a wanted poster from the 1980s with John Donald's real name and real

picture on it. So ultimately, he ends up going to trial and he's found guilty and he gets sentenced to 28 years in prison.