Andrew Caspersen Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
November 04 2016 - 6:30PM
Dow Jones News
A federal judge sentenced Andrew Caspersen to four years in
prison, sparing the former Wall Street executive the stringent
sentence prosecutors had suggested for bilking his friends and
family out of millions of dollars to fund risky stock market
bets.
Prosecutors had said Mr. Caspersen should be sentenced to at
least 15 years in prison, while defense lawyers had asked for
leniency, saying his behavior was driven by a gambling
addiction.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff accepted the defense argument
that Mr. Caspersen was impaired by his addiction and said, "No
purpose will be served by letting him rot in prison for years on
end."
Mr. Caspersen pleaded guilty in July to two criminal counts in
Manhattan federal court and admitted to stealing some $38.5 million
from family members and close friends while soliciting other
investors for millions more. He subsequently lost most of the money
buying stock options on the bet the S&P 500 would go down.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office and the Securities and
Exchange Commission charged the former Park Hill Group partner in
March. The case garnered attention on Wall Street due to Mr.
Caspersen's investing pedigree—he had been a managing principal at
buyout giant Blackstone Group LP's Park Hill Group and became a
partner at the private-equity-fund advisory business after it
separated from Blackstone last year.
Write to Christopher M. Matthews at
christopher.matthews@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 04, 2016 18:15 ET (22:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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