Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
He Scammed So Many People - The John Donald Cody Story
22 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: Who is John Donald Cody and what led to his criminal activities?
So this guy is in prison now because he can't stop stealing money from veterans. Now the guy's name is John Donald and John Donald is 36 when this story starts and he's living in Arizona. 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. One day in 1983, two women walk 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.
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Chapter 2: How did John Donald Cody begin his fraudulent schemes?
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 that 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. 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 Boner.
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