Former business guru trial now set for November

Apr. 20—HAMILTON — A trial date has been set for Nov. 8 for former MIT professor John Donovan Sr. in an alleged scheme to swindle $5 million from his late son's widow and children.

Donovan, 78, was indicted in 2017 after an investigation turned up what prosecutors allege are a series of forged documents filed at the Essex South Registry of Deeds in Salem just weeks before land owned by his son was to be sold for conservation.

John Donovan Jr. died of cancer at the age of 43.

In 2016, as part of the settlement of Donovan Jr.'s estate, 340 acres of land were being sold to the Trust for Public Lands to create a conservation area. As a title examination was underway, lawyers discovered that in September 2016, someone had filed a flurry of documents at the Salem registry, including quitclaim deeds and documents forgiving loans to Donovan Sr.

Donovan faces seven counts of forgery, as well as attempted larceny and witness intimidation charges.

During a brief hearing Tuesday, Donovan's attorney and prosecutor Jack Dawley asked for an October trial date. Judge Kathleen McCarthy-Neyman offered the earliest available date, Nov. 8.

The lawyers said they want to be sure that witnesses from other states are fully vaccinated and able to travel. In the meantime, the lawyers will be back in court in June to wrangle over subpoenas for out-of-state records the defense is seeking.

Donovan, a Lynn native who found success as a "business guru" and who taught at MIT, was in the spotlight in the mid-2000s after staging a shooting outside his Cambridge offices and trying to implicate his other son, James Donovan. He later received a sentence of probation after being found guilty of filing a false police report.

Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis.