For Account One, Caspersen explained that between Nov. 2014 and March 2016, he “defrauded numerous people out of more than $ 38 million.”
“The fraud was simple: I told family members and friends that a private equity firm had given me an allocation in a practically riskless debt instrument, and I offered them the opportunity to invest with me. I said that the debt instrument carried an interest rate of 15 to 20 percent,” he said.
Caspersen, the 39-year-old son of the late Finn M.W. Capsersen, former chairman of Beneficial, led investors to believe that the money they wired to him went towards an investment when “there was no real investment opportunity.”
“It was just a way for me to get money to feed a gambling addiction that was all consuming at the time,” he said.
In regards to Account Two, Caspersen said that between July and November of 2015, he defrauded his employer, Park Hill Group, out of “more than $ 8 million by inducing two firms that owed Park Hill money to send it to an account that I controlled.”
“I created phony invoices to lead the two firms to think that they were paying Park Hill for services rendered, when, in fact, the money was going to me for my gambling. I eventually paid Park Hill back the $ 8 million that I diverted, but I did so with money obtained from the fraud described in Account One,” Caspersen said.
After Caspersen finished his statement, the judge asked, “How do you plead to Account One?”
“Guilty,” Caspersen said in a clearly sad voice.
“How do you plead to Account Two?”
“Guilty,” Caspersen repeated in a slightly firmer voice.
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