Blaming the forgery on a gambling addiction the accused could not control and engineering a fraud where investors were looted over $38 million, former Wall Street executive Andrew Caspersen pleaded guilty to charges that had been laced against him.
Caspersen pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to securities fraud and wire fraud. He worked at a unit of investment banker Paul Taubman's PJT Partners Inc prior to his arrest in March.
As Caspersen admitted to cheating numerous people, mostly family and friends, through what he called a "simple" fraud, he choked up in court. Caspersen is very well educated and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School
"It was just a means for me to get money to feed a gambling addition that was all consuming at the time," Caspersen said.
Even though the lawyer of Caspersen said that he was not in a condition to pay up the huge fines imposed on him, Caspersen, 39, agreed to not appeal any sentence beyond 15-2/3 years in prison and to forfeit over $45 million as part of a plea deal. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2.
Caspersen had tried to defraud over a dozen investors by claiming he would use their funds to make loans to private equity firms between November 2014 and March 2016, prosecutors said. Caspersen is the son of late Wall Street financier Finn M.W. Caspersen.
Caspersen worked at Park Hill Group during the scheme. He had joined the firm in 2013. Spun off from private equity group Blackstone Group LP in October, the advisory firm is now part of PJT Partners.
Caspersen offered friends and family a chance to invest with him after he told them that a private equity firm had given him an allocation in a "practically riskless debt instrument", he said in court while making his plea.
However Caspersen replaced over $8 million he had misappropriated from Park Hill Group, made options trades and paid earlier investors with the $38.5 million he raised, said prosecutors. The $8 million he had misappropriated from Park Hill Group was used by him for gambling.
Prosecutors said that he attempted to raise almost $150 million in total.
Prosecutors said that Caspersen together cheated out $25 million from his victims that included a foundation affiliated with hedge fund Moore Capital Management and one of the fund's employees.
While apologizing for harming the people he cared for the most, Caspersen said in court that he had also gambled away $20 million of his own money.
"I could not be more sorry or ashamed for my crimes," he said.
The case is U.S. v. Caspersen, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-cr-0414.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
Caspersen pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to securities fraud and wire fraud. He worked at a unit of investment banker Paul Taubman's PJT Partners Inc prior to his arrest in March.
As Caspersen admitted to cheating numerous people, mostly family and friends, through what he called a "simple" fraud, he choked up in court. Caspersen is very well educated and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School
"It was just a means for me to get money to feed a gambling addition that was all consuming at the time," Caspersen said.
Even though the lawyer of Caspersen said that he was not in a condition to pay up the huge fines imposed on him, Caspersen, 39, agreed to not appeal any sentence beyond 15-2/3 years in prison and to forfeit over $45 million as part of a plea deal. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2.
Caspersen had tried to defraud over a dozen investors by claiming he would use their funds to make loans to private equity firms between November 2014 and March 2016, prosecutors said. Caspersen is the son of late Wall Street financier Finn M.W. Caspersen.
Caspersen worked at Park Hill Group during the scheme. He had joined the firm in 2013. Spun off from private equity group Blackstone Group LP in October, the advisory firm is now part of PJT Partners.
Caspersen offered friends and family a chance to invest with him after he told them that a private equity firm had given him an allocation in a "practically riskless debt instrument", he said in court while making his plea.
However Caspersen replaced over $8 million he had misappropriated from Park Hill Group, made options trades and paid earlier investors with the $38.5 million he raised, said prosecutors. The $8 million he had misappropriated from Park Hill Group was used by him for gambling.
Prosecutors said that he attempted to raise almost $150 million in total.
Prosecutors said that Caspersen together cheated out $25 million from his victims that included a foundation affiliated with hedge fund Moore Capital Management and one of the fund's employees.
While apologizing for harming the people he cared for the most, Caspersen said in court that he had also gambled away $20 million of his own money.
"I could not be more sorry or ashamed for my crimes," he said.
The case is U.S. v. Caspersen, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-cr-0414.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
