Private Equity Vet Accused of Stealing $25M in Charity Rip-off Scheme

Andrew Caspersen, a senior private equity executive with PJT Partners, has been arrested and charged with attempting to defraud investors out of around $95 million. In addition to the criminal charges filed by Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Caspersen is the subject of a parallel civil complaint filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“To advance his $95 million fraud scheme, Caspersen allegedly put on a shameful charade—creating fake email addresses, setting up misleading domain names and inventing fictional financiers,” Bharara said in a statement. “When confronted by a suspicious client who had invested $25 million, Caspersen had no good answers.”