Frank William Abagnale Jr. (; born April 27, 1948) is an American security consultant, author, and convicted
felon
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that ...
who committed frauds that mainly targeted individuals and small businesses.
He later gained notoriety in the late 1970s by claiming a diverse range of workplace frauds,
many of which have since been placed in doubt.
In 1980, Abagnale co-wrote his autobiography, ''
Catch Me If You Can
''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin in ...
'', which built a narrative around these claimed frauds. The book inspired the
film of the same name directed by
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
in 2002, in which Abagnale was portrayed by
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (; ; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. Known for Leonardo DiCaprio filmography, his work in biographical and period films, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received ...
. He has also written four other books. Abagnale runs Abagnale and Associates, a consulting firm.
Abagnale claims to have worked as an assistant
state attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
general in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, served as a hospital physician in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, and impersonated a
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...
pilot who logged over two million air miles by
deadheading.
The veracity of most of Abagnale's claims has been questioned, and ongoing inquiries continue to confirm that they were fabricated.
In 2002, Abagnale admitted on his website that some facts had been overdramatized or exaggerated, though he was not specific about what was exaggerated or omitted about his life. In 2020, journalist Alan C. Logan claimed to have found evidence he claims proves the majority of Abagnale's story was invented or at best exaggerated.
Early life
Frank William Abagnale Jr. was born in the Bronx, New York City, on April 27, 1948, to an Algerian-American mother who died in November 2014, and an Italian-American father who died in March 1972. He spent his early life in
Bronxville, New York
Bronxville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the Adminis ...
. His parents separated when he was 12 and divorced when he was 15 years old. After the divorce, Abagnale moved with his father, and his new stepmother, to
Mount Vernon, New York
Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...
.
Abagnale claims his first victim was his father, who gave him a gasoline credit card and a truck, and was ultimately liable for a bill amounting to $3,400. Abagnale was only 15 at the time.
In his autobiography, Abagnale says, because of this crime, he was sent to a
reform school
A reform school was a Prison, penal institution, generally for teenagers, mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, reformatory, reformatories (commonly called reform schools) were set up from 1854 onward f ...
in
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...
(fitting the description of the
Lincolndale Agricultural School) run by
Catholic Charities USA.
In numerous interviews, Abagnale has claimed he attended an elite Catholic private school in
Westchester, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous coun ...
,
Iona Preparatory School, through the 10th grade at age 16 in 1964.
Abagnale is not mentioned by name, though, nor do any photographs of him appear in the Iona Preparatory School yearbooks from the time he ostensibly attended. Moreover, no alumni recall Abagnale ever attending the high school.
In December 1964, he enlisted in the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...
at the age of 16. He was discharged after less than three months, and was released on February 18, 1965. Less than two weeks after his release, Abagnale was arrested for petty
larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...
in Mount Vernon on February 26, 1965. The following month, in March 1965, Abagnale identified himself as a
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coterminous municipality, coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate ...
, police officer and entered the apartment of a
Mount Vernon, New York
Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...
, resident claiming that he was investigating her teenaged daughter. Suspicious, the victim called the Mount Vernon police, who found Abagnale with a toy gun and a paper police badge. Abagnale was arrested and booked on a
vagrancy
Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...
charge after being identified in a lineup by the victim. The following day, Abagnale was ordered by the court to be committed to
Grasslands
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur ...
psychiatric institute, in Westchester County, for observation.
In June 1965, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
arrested Abagnale in
Eureka, California
Eureka ( ; Wiyot: ; Hupa: ; ) is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco and south of the Oreg ...
, for car theft after he stole a
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a series of American Car, automobiles manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its Ford Mustang (seventh ...
from one of his father's neighbors. Abagnale was pictured in the local newspaper, seated in a car, being questioned by Special Agent Richard Miller of the FBI.
He had financed his cross-country trip from
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
to
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
with blank checks stolen from a family business located on the
Bronx River Parkway
The Bronx River Parkway (sometimes abbreviated as the Bronx Parkway) is a limited-access Parkways in New York, parkway in downstate New York in the United States. It is named for the nearby Bronx River, which it parallels. The southern terminus ...
.
Abagnale was also charged with
impersonating a US customs official, although this charge was subsequently dropped. On July 2, 1965, this stolen-car case was transferred to the
Southern District of New York
The Southern District of New York is a federal judicial district that encompasses the counties of New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan.
Federal offices or agencies operating in the distri ...
.
Airline pilot
After being released into the custody of his father to face the stolen-car charges, 17-year-old Abagnale decided to impersonate a pilot. He obtained a uniform at a Manhattan uniform company, purchased with the money he obtained from the forgery of checks and on July 7, 1965, informed local media that he was a graduate of the American Airlines pilot school in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
, but he was arrested for theft of checks in
Tuckahoe, New York days later.
Abagnale was sentenced to three years at the
Great Meadow Prison in
Comstock, New York for these stolen checks. After serving only two years of his sentence, he was released into the custody of his mother, but he broke the terms of his parole with a stolen-car conviction in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, and was returned to Great Meadow for one year.
After his release on December 24, 1968, 20-year-old Abagnale disguised himself as a
TWA pilot and moved to
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...
, where he talked his way into the house of a local music teacher, whose daughter was a
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...
stewardess he had met in New York. In Baton Rouge, Abagnale also befriended a local minister, claimed he had a master's degree in social work from
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...
, and sought work with vulnerable youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The reverend introduced him to
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...
faculty, who determined he was an "obvious phony".
The reverend, after Abagnale told him he was a furloughed TWA pilot, became suspicious and called the airline, which informed him that Abagnale was a fraud.
The reverend notified the
Baton Rouge Police Department, and Abagnale was arrested on February 14, 1969, initially on vagrancy charges. Upon his arrest, he was found to have illegally driven his Florida rental car out of state and to possess falsified airline employee identification. The following day, detectives determined that Abagnale had stolen blank checks from his host family and a local business in Baton Rouge, and he was subsequently charged with theft and forgery.
Unable to make bail, he was convicted on June 2, 1969, and was sentenced to 12 years of supervised probation, but he soon fled Louisiana for Europe.
Europe
Two weeks after the Louisiana
bench warrant
An arrest warrant is a Warrant (law), warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and Detention (Imprisonment), detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property.
Cana ...
was issued, Abagnale was arrested in
Montpellier
Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
, France, in September 1969. He had stolen an automobile and defrauded two local families in
Klippan, Sweden. He was sentenced to four months for theft in France, though he served only three months in
Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...
's prison.
He was then extradited to Sweden, where he was convicted of gross fraud by forgery. He served two months in a
Malmö
Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...
prison, was banned from Sweden for eight years, and was required to compensate his Swedish victims (which he allegedly failed to do). Abagnale was deported back to the United States in June 1970, when his appeal failed.
United States
After returning to the United States, 22-year-old Abagnale dressed in a pilot's uniform and traveled around college campuses, passing bad checks and claiming he was there to recruit stewardesses for
Pan Am
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...
. At the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
, he stated that he was a pilot and a doctor. According to Paul Holsen, a student at the time, Abagnale conducted physical examinations on several female college students who wanted to be part of flight crews.
None of the women was ever enrolled in Abagnale's fictional program, as his autobiography and film depict.
After Abagnale cashed a personal check made to look like a Pan Am paycheck, on July 30, 1970, in Durham, North Carolina, he again came to the attention of the FBI. He was arrested in
Cobb County, Georgia
Cobb County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and is a core county of the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north-central portion of the state. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 766, ...
, three months later, on November 2, 1970, after cashing 10 fake Pan Am payroll checks in different towns. Abagnale escaped from the Cobb County jail and was picked up four days later in New York City. He was sentenced to ten years in 1971 for forging checks that totaled $1,448.60 (equivalent to $11,225.45 in 2024), and he received an additional two years for escaping from the local Cobb County jailhouse.
In 1974, Abagnale was released on parole after he had served around two years of his 12-year sentence at
Federal Correctional Institution in
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458 with a majority bla ...
.
Unwilling to return to his family in New York, Abagnale says he left the choice of parole location up to the court, which decided that he would be paroled in Houston, Texas.
After his release, Abagnale stated that he performed numerous jobs, including cook, grocer, and movie projectionist; he was fired from most of those after he was discovered to have been hired without revealing his criminal past. He again posed as a pilot in 1974 to obtain a job at Camp Manison, a summer children's camp in Texas, where he was arrested for stealing cameras from his co-workers.
After he received only a fine, he obtained a position at a Houston-area orphanage by pretending to be a pilot with a master's degree. This job had him finding foster homes for the children living at the orphanage. This ruse was eventually discovered by his parole officer, who swiftly removed him from his orphanage work and moved him into living quarters above his own garage, so he "could keep an eye on him". His next position was at
Aetna
Aetna Inc. ( ) is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...
, where he was fired and sued for
check fraud
Cheque fraud or check fraud (American English) refers to a category of criminal acts that involve making the unlawful use of cheques in order to illegally acquire or borrow funds that do not exist within the account balance or account-holder's l ...
.
According to Abagnale, he approached a bank with an offer in 1975. He explained to the bank what he had done and offered to speak to the bank's staff and show them various tricks that "
paperhangers" use to defraud banks. His offer included the condition that if they did not find his information helpful, they would owe him nothing; otherwise, they would owe him only $50, with an agreement that they would provide his name to other banks. With that, he began a new career as a speaker and security consultant.
[ During this time, he falsified his resume to show he had worked with the ]Los Angeles Police Department
The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
and Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
.
In 1977, Abagnale gave public talks wherein he claimed that between the ages of 16 and 21, he was a pediatrician in a Georgia hospital for one year, an assistant state attorney general for one year, a sociology professor for two semesters, and a Pan American airlines pilot for two years. In addition, Abagnale claimed that he recruited female university students as Pan American flight attendants, traveling with them for three months throughout Europe. He also claimed he eluded the FBI with a daring escape from a commercial airline bathroom via the toilet bowl, while the plane was taxiing at the John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...
in New York. In 1978, Abagnale told a ''Honolulu Advertiser
''The Honolulu Advertiser'' was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions.
''The ...
'' reporter that he was familiar with the toilet apparatus, squeezed himself through the opening, swung down through the lower hatch, landed on the pavement, ran across the runway, and hailed a cab. Abagnale claimed he moved the sewage container aside and that no one heard a thing: "I took off running. I thought they were right behind me. What I didn't know was that the door was spring loaded and when it slammed shut the whole assembly fell back into place. Nobody heard anything because of the engines' roar."
He moved with his wife, Kelly, and their three sons to Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
. He and his family lived in the same house for the next 25 years. After their sons left home for college and careers elsewhere, Kelly suggested that she and Frank leave Tulsa. They decided to move to Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1976, he founded Abagnale & Associates, which advises companies on secure documents. In 2015, Abagnale was named the AARP
AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those 50 and older. The organization, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., said it had more than 38 ...
Fraud Watch Ambassador, where he helps "to provide online programs and community forums to educate consumers about ways to protect themselves from identity theft and cybercrime." In 2018, he began co-hosting the AARP podcast ''The Perfect Scam'' about scammers and how they operate.
He has appeared in the media a variety of times, including three times as a guest on ''The Tonight Show
''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...
'', an appearance on ''To Tell the Truth
''To Tell the Truth'' is an American television panel show. Four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants (the "team of challengers", each an individual or pair) and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual ...
'' in 1977,[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
and a regular slot on the British network TV series '' The Secret Cabaret'' in the 1990s. The book about Abagnale, ''Catch Me If You Can'', was turned into a movie of the same name by Steven Spielberg in 2002, featuring actor Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale. The real Abagnale made a cameo appearance
A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
in this film playing a French police officer taking DiCaprio into custody.
Veracity of claims
During his many speeches, appearances and interviews on television, Abagnale has alleged many criminal exploits. These include stating that he was wanted in 26 countries, has worked extensively for the FBI, and escaped several times from FBI custody. He also claimed that he cashed over 17,000 bad checks, amounting to US$2.5 million, and worked as an assistant attorney general and a hospital physician. In addition, he stated that he started a fake stewardess trainee program, traveling with them throughout Europe for two months, and logged over three million air miles disguised as a pilot. Almost all of these claims have been refuted by journalists.
In public lectures describing his life story, Abagnale has consistently maintained that he was "arrested just once," and that was in Montpellier, France. However, public records show Abagnale was arrested in New York (multiple times), California, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas.
Despite public records showing Abagnale targeted individuals and small family businesses, Abagnale has long claimed publicly that he "never, ever ripped off any individuals." He made the same claim of never targeting individuals and small businesses to BBC journalist Sarah Montague and the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. According to Abagnale, the only individual he ever swindled was a Miami prostitute
Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
: "She tried to charge me $1,000 for an evening, so I gave her a $1,400 forged cashier's check, and got $400 in change." In 2002, Abagnale told the ''Star Tribune
''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...
'', "As long as I didn't hurt anyone, people never considered me a real criminal, my victims were big corporations. I was a kid ripping off the establishment."
Individuals criminally targeted by Abagnale, however, have described the long-term consequences of victimization:
His claim that he passed the Louisiana bar examination, worked for Attorney General Jack P. F. Gremillion, and closed 33 cases, was challenged by several journalists in 1978. No record has been found of Abagnale ever being a member of the Louisiana Bar, and no evidence shows he ever worked as an assistant attorney general in Louisiana's Attorney General's Office. In 1978, the Louisiana State Bar Association reconciled all those who took the bar exam and concluded that Abagnale never took the exam using his own name or an alias; the State Attorney General
The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the District of Columbia, federal district, or of any of the Territories of the United States, territories is the chief legal advisor to the State governments of the United States, sta ...
's Office examined payments to all employees during the time Abagnale claimed he worked there and concluded that he never worked in the office using his name or an alias. After Abagnale appeared on ''The Tonight Show'', then-First Assistant Attorney General Ken DeJean gave a reporter a series of questions to ask Abagnale about the description of then-Attorney General Gremillion. Abagnale failed to answer the questions correctly.
Abagnale claimed that when he was 18 years old, he worked for a year as a supervising pediatrician at the Cobb General Hospital in Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...
. He maintained that he worked the midnight-to-8 am shift, supervising seven residents and 42 nurses. Abagnale claimed that he would visit the university library to memorize medical journals and textbooks: "With my photographic memory, I could easily memorize anything. That did not mean that I could comprehend it, but I could rattle it off verbatim." Abagnale told his audiences that over the course of his one year at Cobb General, no one doubted his position as a physician: "So I made the rounds, picked up the clipboards, scribbled a few lines, initialed them, and everyone thought I was doing a fine job." However, hospital administrators told journalist Ira Perry that the hospital had no midnight-to-8 am shift, nor did the position of regular overnight pediatrician exist, at the time. Using records from the New York State Archives, author Alan C. Logan demonstrated that Abagnale was in the Great Meadow Prison, in Comstock, New York, when he was 18.
Abagnale's claim that he impersonated a doctor is not entirely without foundation, however. On the University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
campus in 1970, he stated that he was a pilot and a doctor. According to Paul Holsen, who was an older university student and licensed commercial pilot at the time, Abagnale informed him that he was there on behalf of Pan Am to recruit and conduct physical examinations on candidates. In his autobiography, Holsen claimed that after Abagnale's ruse was discovered, authorities informed him that Abagnale had indeed conducted physical exams on students. University of Arizona officials acknowledge that Abagnale had interacted with 12 female students. Abagnale has openly acknowledged that he performed examinations on young women while impersonating a doctor: "When the girls came by, I always gave them a thorough examination and sent them on their way. I was young, but not stupid." In 2021, Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...
Manship Chair in Journalism Robert Mann expressed his regret in not confronting Abagnale's claim of conducting physical examinations as a doctor: "Looking back on my story about the event bagnale's lecture I am embarrassed by what I wrote about Abagnale's time posing as a pediatrician. Reading those words now, in which Abagnale bragged about sexual abuse, makes me sick."
Abagnale has publicly claimed an intelligence quotient
An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. Originally, IQ was a score obtained by dividing a person's mental age score, obtained by administering ...
(IQ) of 140: "I have an I.Q. of 140 and retain 90% of what I read. So, by studying and memorizing the bar exam, I was able to get the needed score." In 2021, Abagnale gave the keynote speech at the American Mensa Conference in Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
. The organizers claimed he was the subject of an FBI manhunt and cashed millions of dollars' worth of checks while impersonating a pilot and doctor. Despite claims of a photographic memory, when queried by ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' journalist Andy Seiler regarding details of his imposter roles and movements in the 1960s, Abagnale responded by saying, "You get to a point in your life where you go, 'I don't remember what I did.'"
One of Abagnale's most notable claims was an alleged escape from the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta
The Federal Correctional Institution, Atlanta (FCI Atlanta) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Just ...
, in 1971:
In 1982, Abagnale told the press, "I was and still am the only and youngest man to escape from that prison." The Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...
confirmed, though, that Abagnale was never housed in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary: "He was never admitted, so I don't really see how he could have escaped," said acting Warden Dwight Amstutz.
In 1978, after Abagnale had been a featured speaker at an anticrime seminar, a ''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' reporter looked into his assertions. Telephone calls to banks, schools, hospitals, and other institutions Abagnale mentioned turned up no evidence of his cons under the aliases he used. Abagnale's response was, "Due to the embarrassment involved, I doubt if anyone would confirm the information." He later said he had changed the names.
Further doubts were raised about Abagnale's story after an October 1978 appearance on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', with a news article saying:
In December 1978, Abagnale's claims were again investigated after he visited Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
for a talk. As part of his investigation into the story, Perry spoke with Pan Am spokesman Bruce Haxthausen, who responded to the journalists' inquiry saying:
In 2002, Abagnale addressed the issue of his story's lack of truthfulness with a statement posted on his company's website, which said in part: "I was interviewed by the co-writer only about four times. I believe he did a great job of telling the story, but he also overdramatized and exaggerated some of the story. That was his style and what the editor wanted. He always reminded me that he was just telling a story and not writing my biography." However, Abagnale made the primary claims of working as a doctor for a year, an attorney for a year, a PhD professor, and his several escapes on national television in 1977 on the show ''To Tell the Truth
''To Tell the Truth'' is an American television panel show. Four celebrity panelists are presented with three contestants (the "team of challengers", each an individual or pair) and must identify which is the "central character" whose unusual ...
'' and ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'', which antedated the 1980 autobiography by several years. He also made these claims in print media, namely the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.
History
In May 1905, Amon G. Car ...
'', three years before the publication of his co-written autobiography, effectively nullifying the claim his aforementioned co-author, Stan Redding, exaggerated the story.
Despite Abagnale's website claim about his autobiography co-author Stan Redding, investigative journalist Javier Leiva discovered an obscure cover story of ''True Detective
''True Detective'' is an American Anthology series, anthology Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto for the premium cable network HBO. The series premiered on January 12, 2014, and ...
'' (January 1978) in which Abagnale told the story of his life. In ''True Detective'', Abagnale claimed to Redding that he passed the Louisiana bar exam, worked as an assistant attorney general, was employed as a sociology professor, worked as an Atlanta pediatrician, escaped from an airplane toilet, escaped from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, recruited University of Arizona students (and traveled with them throughout Europe for weeks), and cashed $2.5 million in checks. These claims antedate, by several years, the co-authored autobiography, and they also demonstrate that it was Abagnale who invented and exaggerated his life story, not Stan Redding.
In 2002, at the ''Catch Me If You Can'' film premiere, Abagnale conceded to journalist Andy Seiler of ''USA Today'' that the impersonations in the autobiography were fabricated: "I impersonated a doctor for a few days, I was a lawyer for a few days. In the book, it's like I am doing this for a year." Despite this admission, in public speeches, Abagnale would return to his claims of long-term impersonations of a doctor and for working for a year as an attorney. Abagnale's fees for speaking about his alleged life story are reported to be between $20,000 and $30,000.
In 2006, KSL journalist Scott Haws challenged Abagnale with his claim that he worked as a PhD
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
-holding sociology professor at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...
(BYU) for two semesters. Abagnale claimed that he could not recall the details, and that his co-author Redding had exaggerated some things. Haws "refreshed Frank's memory" and showed him his own words, including the ''Catch Me If You Can'' movie book and the credits that rolled at the end of the film ''Catch Me If You Can'', where Abagnale, not Redding, made the BYU professor claim. Abagnale conceded to Haws that he might have been a guest lecturer.
Leading up to 2020, author Alan C. Logan conducted an in-depth investigation for a book that focused on the perspective of Abagnale's victims. As part of this process, Logan combined earlier newspaper articles, numerous administrative documents, and public records that had not been the subject of scrutiny by major media outlets. Based on these documents, Logan provided a timeline that challenged the overall truthfulness of Abagnale's self-described criminal history and movements between 1964 and 1974. Logan maintains that his investigation found that Abagnale's account of his criminal past is, for the most part, a fabrication. Using records from the New York State Archives, Logan showed that Abagnale was in Great Meadow Prison in Comstock, New York, between the ages of 17 and 20 (July 26, 1965, and December 24, 1968) as inmate #25367, the time frame during which Abagnale claims to have committed his most significant scams. Logan's investigation uncovered numerous petty crimes that Abagnale has never acknowledged. Various media outlets have asked Abagnale to respond to Logan's book content, which included victim statements and citations to publicly accessible records. Abagnale has responded by stating that the book is "not worthy of a comment".
Abagnale has told the press, "I was convicted on $2.5 million dollars' worth of bad checks" and that he later hired a law firm to get all the money back to hotels and other companies. Federal court records, though, show that Abagnale was convicted of forging 10 Pan American Airlines checks in five states (Texas, Arizona, Utah, California. and North Carolina), totaling less than US$1,500. Following his parole on February 8, 1974, he claimed he went to work for the FBI, but after this date, Abagnale was arrested for theft at a kids' camp in Friendswood, Texas
Friendswood is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. The city lies in Galveston and Harris counties. As of the 2020 census, the population of Friendswood was 41,213.
History
Friendswood, s ...
, on August 29, 1974.
In many interviews and speeches, Abagnale has claimed that he has earned millions of dollars from his patents. The United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...
website, to the contrary, does not list Abagnale—as a person—or Abagnale and Associates—as a business—as holders of any patents, and neither are listed as an inventor on any patent. In his cheque design patents, Canadian inventor Calin A. Sandru merely mentions in the Background section of the invention that KPMG
KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...
and Abagnale and Associates are groups that affirm that cheque fraud is a significant problem.
Logan, girded with public records, shared his findings in detail on the NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
program ''Watching America'', August 13, 2021, broadcast on WHRO.
In 2022, investigative journalist Javier Leiva independently obtained the public records first sourced by Logan. Leiva also confirmed that Abagnale was in prison between 17 and 20 and then convicted for theft in Baton Rouge in June 1969. Leiva also obtained the federal records connected to Abagnale's Pan Am checks and confirmed that his conviction, at 22 years old, was based on less than $1,500. Leiva says he calculated that between 1965 and 1970, Abagnale was only free for a matter of months and that his records show he was in prison most of that time. On June 23, 2022, Leiva confronted Abagnale at the Connect IT Global 2022 conference in Las Vegas with prison and other public records in-hand. Leiva describes these events in his podcast series ''Pretend – The Real Catch Me If You Can (Part 1)''.
Relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation
One of Abagnale's most controversial claims is his relationship with the FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
. In 1977, when Abagnale began claiming a five-year uninterrupted life on the run, involving multiprofession imposter scams, he did not claim to work for the FBI. He did, however, leverage the names of FBI personnel to bolster his new biographical claims. In 1978, journalist Ira Perry determined that Abagnale and his publicist were giving out the names of FBI agents to any party that asked for references or verification of his claimed biography; in particular, they gave out the name of Robert Russ Franck, who they claimed was the "former Atlanta agent" who knew all about Abagnale. When Perry contacted Franck, who had just retired as head of the FBI's Houston Division, and had never worked in Atlanta, Franck told him:
Franck informed Perry that he had only heard about Abagnale through people attempting to verify his biographical claims, and was unable to confirm whether the claims were true. Perry also interviewed Eugene Stewart, a retired FBI agent who was in charge of the Atlanta division when Abagnale claimed he was a pediatrician in suburban Atlanta. Stewart, who at this point was Delta Air Lines chief of security, informed Perry that Abagnale was a low-level criminal: "It's more of a harassment than anything else," said Stewart. In addition, Stewart noted that Abagnale had been using a Delta Air Lines uniform to cash bad personal checks in Texas after his 1974 parole. After his parole, Abagnale was arrested for theft from a children’s camp in Friendswood, Texas. Public records show that almost two years after his parole, in October 1975, Abagnale was hired by Aetna Insurance, and was abruptly fired by the company after he allegedly cashed bad personal checks during his employee training. Aetna eventually filed suit against Abagnale after his appearance on ''To Tell the Truth'' was broadcast in 1977.
After the publication of his 1980 autobiography, Abagnale began to inform his audiences that he was on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, and William ...
list. He carried this claim into the '90s: "I was the only teenager in the history of the FBI to be put on their 10 Most Wanted list," Abagnale told his audiences in 1994. In the lead up to the release of the film ''Catch Me If You Can'', this "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" claim was used in marketing for the film. Pressed on this claim when the film was released, and with evidence clearly showing the absence of Abagnale on any most wanted list, he conceded on his website that he was never on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
In 2002, ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' journalist Bob Baker (1948–2015) reported that no FBI task force was set up to capture Abagnale. Despite his claims that he was living in the infamous Riverbend Apartments, supposedly eluding the FBI for one year as a pediatrician in suburban Atlanta, the newspaper report of Abagnale's arrest indicated he had been in the area for only two days; local FBI agents responded to a tip that Abagnale was in a local hotel and arrested him there. In September 2022, retired FBI Agent Alan Brown obtained permission from FBI headquarters to discuss his arrest of Abagnale. Brown spoke to investigative journalist Javier Leiva and acknowledged that the Atlanta field office simply acted on a teletype
A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations.
Init ...
request to pick Abagnale up at the Squire Inn, in Marietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...
. In contrast to Abagnale's claims about escaping from the hotel, as depicted in the film, Brown stated that Abagnale was arrested in his room without incident. Brown also stated that he had no personal knowledge of Abagnale's arrests prior to 1970, and after 1970, when Abagnale was arrested in Friendswood, Texas.
In the years following the release of ''Catch Me if You Can'', Abagnale began claiming that he was granted a unique parole from the federal prison
A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...
in Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458 with a majority bla ...
, so that he could work for the bureau: "When the FBI took me out of prison, it was to do undercover work." Abagnale has claimed that the clandestine work was given to him directly by Clarence M. Kelley, who directed the FBI from 1973 to 1978. In his " Talks at Google" lecture, Abagnale claimed that because of his photographic memory, Kelley asked him to memorize the components of military hardware and infiltrate bases as a lieutenant. Abagnale describes Kelley's instructions this way: "Okay, you are a lieutenant in the army. You have been in the army this many years. Your expertise is this missile. I need you to learn all of this in two weeks, and I'm sending you to this base, and I want you to find out what's going on in this particular area." In the lecture, Abagnale also claims Kelley sent him on similar missions "as a scientist at a lab in New Mexico."
Jerri Williams, a retired FBI agent who specialized in white-collar crime and fraud, spoke to investigative journalist Javier Leiva about these claims. Williams rejected Abagnale's claims of being tasked with clandestine operations directly by Kelley:
After the film was released, Abagnale began to use the first-person plural pronoun "we" to refer to the FBI; he also began to inform audiences that he was directly working for the FBI and celebrating each anniversary of his unique parole and the opportunity to go to work at the FBI; for example, in 2006, he informed his audiences, "This year I am celebrating 31 years with the FBI," in 2014, he told his audiences, "this year I'm celebrating 38 years at the FBI where I work today." The dates of this anniversary celebration point to 1976 and do not line up with Abagnale's claim of a parole-release deal. Abagnale was, according to United States Board of Parole and Federal Bureau of Prisons standard practice at the time, sent to a pre-release center in Houston in 1973, within the 120 days prior to his actual federal parole date of February 8, 1974.
Ira Winkler, former intelligence analyst for the United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...
, and chief security architect for Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
stores internationally, describes an encounter with Abagnale. Winkler queried Abagnale on the specifics of his position at the FBI. Abagnale responded that he was, "a special agent". Winkler says, "You mean a full-fledged special agent?", to which Abagnale responded in the affirmative.
In a 2018 interview broadcast on PBS, Abagnale publicly criticized former FBI director James Comey
James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until Dismissal of James Comey, his termination in May 2017. Comey was a registered Repub ...
for his unprofessionalism during the 2016 US presidential election. In the same interview, Abagnale claims that the FBI is concerned that he is of retirement age: "The FBI always ask me when am I going to retire, because they don't want me to," said Abagnale. In interviews, Abagnale has claimed that his work with the FBI is ''pro bono'', although he has claimed publicly that his company has made millions of dollars from contracts with the U.S. government: "Today, Frank Abagnale and Associates does $10.5 million of business per year, 90% of it with the federal government," he told his audience in 1988. In 1991, Frank Abagnale and his wife Kelly filed for bankruptcy in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the court filings, Abagnale claimed that he had $1.6 million in debts and $308,000 in assets.
Journalist Ira Perry was unable to find any evidence that Abagnale worked with the FBI; according to one retired
Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload.
Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...
FBI special agent in charge
In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...
, Abagnale was caught trying to pass personal checks in 1978 several years after he claimed that he began working with the FBI. Dating back to the 1980s, Abagnale claimed that Joseph Shea, an FBI agent, had pursued him for five years (between 1965 and 1970). Abagnale claimed that Shea befriended and supervised him during his parole. When ''Catch Me If You Can'' was released in theatres, though, ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
'' reported that Abagnale and Shea only reunited in the late 1980s, almost 20 years after Shea arrested him. Abagnale spotted Shea at an anticrime seminar in Kansas City and sought out Shea to shake his hand.
When the film was released, an FBI spokesperson acknowledged that Abagnale had given lectures at the academy "from time to time," but denied that Abagnale had been given commendations by the agency as claimed in the film's marketing. At no point has the FBI made an official statement corroborating Abagnale's biographical claims, nor has the agency confirmed his extraordinary claims that he was sent into a military base as an expert on missiles, and into a secret lab in New Mexico. Abagnale has claimed in public lectures that he was discussed in detail in a coffee-table book celebrating 100 years of the FBI. However, Abagnale's name does not appear anywhere in the official book celebrating 100 years of the FBI. In his public lectures, Abagnale has taken on a pseudo-spokesperson role for the FBI. In discussing recruitments, he states, "currently 017 017 may refer to:
* DOL-017, GameCube console
* '' Global Underground 017'', DJ mix album
* Road FC 017, 2014 Mixed Martial Arts event
* Swift 017.n, racing car
* Tyrrell 017, Formula One racing car
See also
* 17 (disambiguation)
Seventeen o ...
we take 1 in 10,000 applications." Abagnale made this same claim of 1 in 10,000 applications to ''Idaho Statesman
The ''Idaho Statesman'' is the daily newspaper of Boise, Idaho, in the western United States. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.
History
The paper was first published as the ''Idaho Tri-Weekly Statesman'' on July 26, 1864, by James S. Reynold ...
'' journalist Michael Katz in 2019. Overall approximately 11,500 applications per year are made for 900 positions at the FBI (2018 statistics), which is about one in 13 applicants.
In 2020, Abagnale was confronted by one of his victims in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...
. When asked why he talks about being an attorney general and passing the state's bar exam, and yet failing to acknowledge his arrest and conviction in Baton Rouge, Abagnale said, "That's because I work for the FBI." Abagnale claimed to the ''Star Tribune
''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...
'' that he is an ethics instructor at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia
Quantico (; formerly Potomac) is a town in southeastern Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 578 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., bound ...
: "I teach ethics at the FBI academy, which is ironic, but years ago, someone at the bureau said, 'Who better than you to do this?'—I try to teach young agents the importance of doing the right thing."
Talks at Google
In August 2022, Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
disabled all comments and added a disclaimer to Abagnale's "Talks at Google", which now states: "Disclaimer: Google does not endorse or condone the content contained within this video, nor does it lay claim to the validity of the actions described herein. The following is presented unaltered as it was recorded on Nov 27, 2017, and remains on the Talks at Google YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel for historical purposes." In the video disclaimer Google did not provide an explicit reason for the abnegation of Abagnale's video or whether or not it was part of their new initiative to work with journalists to combat misinformation
Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation and disinformation are not interchangeable terms: misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, whereas disinformation is distinct in that the information ...
and disinformation
Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...
. However, according to investigative journalist Javier Leiva, the move was made in response to members of his audience.
Controversy at Xavier and other universities
On September 12, 2022, Frank Abagnale was awarded the "Heroes in Ethics" award by Xavier University
Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...
, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Abagnale gave the keynote lecture at the university's annual Heroes of Professional Ethics series. At the conclusion of his talk, Abagnale invited the audience to ask him any questions on any matter. A member of the audience, Jim Grinstead, the host of the podcast ''Scams and Cons'', asked Abagnale, "So I wonder, in light of the ethics award you're going to be presented tonight, would you come clean? Would you tell the truth about the stories you've told? Will you admit that you just lied to everybody, and you're still conning them?" In his response Abagnale denied telling any lies or spreading any misinformation. He claimed he had nothing to do with his autobiography, the film, and the Broadway musical. Xavier University has removed any discussion of the September 12 event from its website.
The incident at Xavier University was not the first time Abagnale's story caused controversy on a university campus. In 1981, after criminal-justice professor William Toney and his students debunked Abagnale's biographical claims, several universities cancelled Abagnale's appearances. In an attempt to provide compromise, the University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...
asked Abagnale to sign an affidavit that would attest to the truthfulness of his biographical claims. The university informed Abagnale that he would still be allowed to give the speech and collect his speaking fee, even if he did not sign the affidavit, but if he refused, the university would warn the students at the outset of the speech that Abagnale had not promised to tell the truth. Abagnale refused to sign the affidavit, referring to the document as a "slap in the face".
As skepticism of Abagnale's story spread, he cancelled his own university bookings. In a letter to Georgia Southwestern State University, Abagnale wrote that it was wrong to profit from his criminal past by speaking about it to college campuses. Furthermore, in the letter to GSSU, Abagnale stated that he was cancelling all college speaking engagements because the criminal aspects of the life story he was presenting " renot something to which young impressionable minds should be exposed." In the midst of this controversy, Abagnale was queried by journalist John Dagley, who asked him if his biography was a lie, to which he replied:
Personal life
Abagnale and his wife Kelly live on Daniel Island, an island community which is part of Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
. They have three sons, Scott, Chris, and Sean. Abagnale maintains that meeting his wife was the motivation for changing his life. He told author Paul Stenning
Paul David Stenning (born 12 June 1976) is an English author and ghostwriter. He has written twenty-nine books, of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and biography. The best-known of his books is ''The Robert Pattinson Album'', a biography of Robert P ...
that he met her while allegedly working undercover for the FBI when she was a cashier at a grocery store.
Books
* ''The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can'', Alan C. Logan, 2020
* ''Catch Me If You Can
''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin in ...
'', 1980.
* ''The Art of the Steal'', Broadway Books
Broadway Books is an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.. It released its first list in Fall 1996. Broadway was founded in 1995 as a unit of Bantam Doubleday Dell, a unit of Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann acquire ...
, 2001.
* ''Real U Guide to Identity Theft'', 2004.
* ''Stealing Your Life'', Random House/Broadway Books, 2007.
* ''Scam Me If You Can'', 2019.
See also
*'' The Great Impostor'', 1961 movie about Ferdinand Waldo Demara
* Elliot Castro, Scottish former fraudster
* William Douglas Street Jr., American con artist and impersonator upon whose life the 1989 film '' Chameleon Street'', winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, was based
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abagnale, Frank
Living people
1948 births
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American criminals
American businesspeople convicted of crimes
American confidence tricksters
American male criminals
American people convicted of fraud
American people imprisoned abroad
American people of Algerian descent
American people of French descent
American people of Italian descent
American white-collar criminals
Businesspeople from New York City
Businesspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Criminals from the Bronx
Escapees from United States federal government detention
Foreign nationals imprisoned in France
Forgers
Impostors
Military personnel from New York (state)
Prisoners and detainees of Sweden
Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War