A01=Daniel M. Freed
A01=Jeff Testerman
American Greed
Army Intelligence Officer
Author_Daniel M. Freed
Author_Jeff Testerman
Category=N
Central Intelligence Agency
CIA
Cleveland
CNBC
Con Artist
Conman
Criminal
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
Espionage
Fake Charity
Florida
Fraud
Harvard Law School
Investigative Reporter
John Donald Cody
Journalism
Lieutenant Commander Bobby Thompson
Manhunt
Money Laundering
Navy Vets
Nonprofit
Ohio
Oregon
Portland
President Bush
President George W Bush
Senator John McCain
St. Petersburg Times
Tampa
True Crime
US Marshals
US Navy Commander
US Navy Veterans Association
White Collar Crime
Product details
- ISBN 9781640123045
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Feb 2021
- Publisher: Potomac Books Inc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
When Lt. Commander Bobby Thompson surfaced in Tampa in 1998, it was as if he had fallen from the sky, providing no hint of his past life. Eleven years later, St. Petersburg Times investigative reporter Jeff Testerman visited the rundown duplex Thompson used as his home and the epicenter of his sixty-thousand-member charity, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. But something was amiss. Thompson’s charity’s addresses were just maildrops, his members nonexistent, and his past a black hole. Yet, somehow, the Commander had stood for photos with President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, and other political luminaries. The USNVA, it turned out, was a phony charity where Thompson used pricey telemarketers, savvy lawyers, and political allies to swindle tens of millions from well-meaning donors.
After Testerman’s story revealed that the nonprofit was a sham, the Commander went on the run. U.S. Marshals took up the hunt in 2011 and found themselves searching for an unnamed identity thief who they likened to a real-life Jason Bourne. When finally captured in 2012, Thompson was carrying multiple IDs and a key to a locker that held nearly $1 million in cash. But, who was he? Eventually, investigators discovered he was John Donald Cody, a Harvard Law School graduate and former U.S. Army intelligence officer who had been wanted since the 1980s on theft charges and for questioning in an espionage probe.
As Cody’s decades as a fugitive came to an end, he claimed his charity was run at the behest of the Central Intelligence Agency. After reporting on the story for CNBC’s American Greed in 2014, Daniel M. Freed dug into Cody’s backstory-uncovering new information about his intelligence background and the evolution of his con.
Watch a book trailer at callmecommander.net.
After Testerman’s story revealed that the nonprofit was a sham, the Commander went on the run. U.S. Marshals took up the hunt in 2011 and found themselves searching for an unnamed identity thief who they likened to a real-life Jason Bourne. When finally captured in 2012, Thompson was carrying multiple IDs and a key to a locker that held nearly $1 million in cash. But, who was he? Eventually, investigators discovered he was John Donald Cody, a Harvard Law School graduate and former U.S. Army intelligence officer who had been wanted since the 1980s on theft charges and for questioning in an espionage probe.
As Cody’s decades as a fugitive came to an end, he claimed his charity was run at the behest of the Central Intelligence Agency. After reporting on the story for CNBC’s American Greed in 2014, Daniel M. Freed dug into Cody’s backstory-uncovering new information about his intelligence background and the evolution of his con.
Watch a book trailer at callmecommander.net.
Jeff Testerman is an investigative reporter now retired from the St. Petersburg Times, where he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize five times. The newspaper’s investigation exposing the U.S. Navy Veterans charity scheme earned the Investigative Reporters and Editors top award for public service. Daniel M. Freed is a senior producer for CNBC’s white-collar crime documentary series American Greed. His television and print work has been aired or published by PBS, Current TV, Amazon Prime Video, and the Los Angeles Times.
