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Financial Services Firm Partner Arrested and Charged in Manhattan Federal Court
A high-profile financial scandal has unfolded in New York, as Andrew Caspersen, a 39-year-old partner at a multinational financial services firm, has been arrested and charged with a $95 million scheme to defraud investors. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, Caspersen allegedly solicited investments in securities by falsely representing that he had authority to conduct deals on behalf of his employer.
The scheme, which ran from July 2015 to March 2016, involved Caspersen claiming that investors’ funds would be invested in a secured loan to an investment firm. However, no such security existed, and no investments were made. Instead, Caspersen converted the funds to his own use, totaling approximately $24.6 million from a charitable foundation affiliated with a multinational hedge fund and $400,000 from an employee of the hedge fund.
Caspersen’s scheme was uncovered when a suspicious client invested $25 million and confronted him about the lack of returns. Caspersen had no good answers, and he will now face federal securities and wire fraud charges. The U.S. Attorney’s office has alleged that Caspersen created fake email addresses, set up misleading domain names, and invented fictional financiers to advance his $95 million fraud scheme.
As part of the scheme, Caspersen wired $17.6 million from an account designated by him into his own personal brokerage account, which he largely lost as a result of aggressive options trading. Shortly before his arrest, Caspersen attempted to solicit an additional $20 million investment from the charitable foundation and a $50 million investment from another multinational private equity firm headquartered in New York.
Caspersen will be presented today before Magistrate Judge James C. Francis in Manhattan federal court. In a separate action, the SEC has filed civil charges against Caspersen.
Mandatory Facts: Defendant’s full name: Andrew Caspersen; Exact criminal charges: Securities and wire fraud; City and state: New York; Exact date: July 2015 to March 2016; Sentence or outcome: Currently pending; Dollar amounts: $95 million scheme, $24.6 million from a charitable foundation, $400,000 from an employee of the hedge fund, $17.6 million wired into his personal brokerage account.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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