Park Ave. faker
$150M fraudster faces up to 40 yrs.
Harvard-educated Upper East Sider Andrew Caspersen pleaded guilty Wednesday to masterminding a $150 million fraud that duped his family, friends and a billionaire out of $38.5 million.
His gambling habit made him do it, he told the judge.
“It was just a way for me to get money to feed a gambling addiction that was all-consuming at the time,” the former Park Hill Group partner told Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan federal court.
Caspersen, 39, had it all when he began soliciting money for fake investment opportunities in 2014, including a $3.6 million salary, a Manhattan apartment and a multimillion-dollar house in tony Bronxville.
Now he faces as much as 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of securities fraud and wire fraud — although prosecutors, as part of a plea agreement, have recommended he serve no more than 15 years.
“There was no real invest- ment opportunity,” a tearyeyed Caspersen told Rakoff.
Caspersen lured people to part with their money by claiming the Park Avenue buyout firm had approved of the fake investments. One of the victims was billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Bacon’s charitable foundation, which said it had been duped out of $25 million.
Park Hill fired Caspersen in March, at the time of his arrest.
“Judge, I did all of this knowing it was wrong,” said the fallen Wall Streeter, who went to Princeton for his undergraduate degree.
“I could not be more ashamed of my crimes,” he said.
He is the son of Finn Caspersen Sr., the former head of Beneficial Corp., who made headlines in 2009 when he killed himself amid a tax-evasion probe.
Caspersen told Rakoff that he has suffered from depression and alcoholism and that he spent 16 days in the hospital for mental health issues following his March arrest.