US banker accused of stealing $25 million arose from a gilded legacy

NEW YORK: Andrew Caspersen, the banker accused of stealing $25 million, seemed to have it all, at least on paper. Scion of a family that built and sold a finance company for billions, Caspersen went from Princeton University to Harvard Law School, where students can read rare books in the Caspersen Room or study in the Caspersen Student Center.

Until Monday, he was a managing director at PJT Partners Inc. He earned more than $3 million a year, prosecutors said in court, helping private equity funds restructure.

Now Caspersen, 39, is out of work and charged with what federal prosecutors describe as a brazen fraud. According to the Manhattan US attorney’s office, he invented a fake "credit facility" that promised high returns and duped a hedgefund manager into wiring him millions last year, most of it from a charitable foundation. He gambled it away betting on stock options in just four weeks, according to the criminal complaint.

In all, Caspersen is accused of scheming to defraud investors of more than $95 million.

Caspersen’s case raises questions about how PJT, an advisory firm that combined with the mergers and restructuring businesses of private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP last year, failed to notice what he was doing, and why someone in his position would allegedly run a scam that was likely to be discovered. PJT’s stock plunged as much as 25 per cent before recovering to close down 11 per cent at $23.66.

Caspersen didn’t offer any answers when he appeared in Manhattan federal court on Monday wearing a white polo shirt and gray slacks, with his wife, mother and one of his brothers looking on from the back row.

Defense lawyer Dan Levy, arguing against prosecutors’ request for $20 million bail, said his money was all gone. "Losses have eviscerated any assets," he said.