New York Banker Arrested for $95 Million Fraud

Andrew Caspersen, a former managing principal at financial services firm Park Hill Group was arrested on charges that he engaged in a $95 million scheme to defraud investors. Caspersen was named in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan that charged him with securities fraud and wire fraud. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a civil lawsuit, accusing him of engaging in the fraud using a shell company he controlled whose name was similar to that of Irving Place Capital private equity fund. Park Hill Group terminated Caspersen and he was arrested on Saturday. He appeared in federal court yesterday. Caspersen allegedly obtained $25 million from a foundation affiliated with a New York hedge fund and from one of the fund’s employees by claiming their investment would be secured by $900 million of assets of Irving Place Capital Partners III SPV. Instead, he used the funds for himself, trading securities in his personal brokerage account and lost the money due to aggressive options trading. Before his arrest, Caspersen sought another $20 million from the same foundation and $50 million from another New York private equity firm.