Abagnale cites ‘a second chance’ as his life’s greatest success

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii – Frank Abagnale, who as a young man used forgery and fraud as means to survive, said he was “fortunate to be brought up in a great country where everyone gets a second chance.”

Mr. Abagnale, who was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Catch Me if You Can, was the keynote speaker at Hawaii 2005, The Royal Hawaiian Eye Meeting.

After an early life spent one step ahead of the law, Mr. Abagnale has for the past 30 years worked with the FBI on “making it difficult to commit fraud.” He said he now considers being a devoted husband and family man to be his greatest achievement.

“God gave me a wife, three beautiful children and a great family. Everything I have is because of a love of a woman and the respect of a child to their father,” he said.

Beginning at age 16, Mr. Abagnale successfully posed as an airline pilot and an attorney, a professor and a pediatrician. He cashed $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in the United States and 26 other countries. At age 21, he was apprehended by the French police, and he served time in French, Swedish and U.S. prisons. But after 5 years behind bars, he was released on the condition that he would help the government by educating federal law enforcement agencies in the detection of forgery and fraud. Mr. Abagnale has been associated with the FBI for more than 25 years.

“Some people think that my life was glamorous, but it was very lonely. Only a fool would think they could go a long time without getting caught,” he said in his keynote address.

In 1998, Mr. Abagnale was selected as a member of the “Pinnacle 400” by CNN Financial News. More than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies have used his programs.

In one anecdote, he described trying to lease an apartment in a “singles complex” in Atlanta after several years of cashing fraudulent checks. He said he had to give employer reference information.

“I had to find information that would be impossible to check, yet not have people ask questions as to why I had a fancy car, a fancy apartment and expensive clothes. So I put down the profession as ‘doctor.’”

Several months later, Mr. Abagnale found himself in Louisiana posing as a lawyer. “If I could pretend to be a doctor, I sure as hell could pretend to be a lawyer,” he said.

Regarding the movie Catch Me If You Can, which was directed by Steven Speilberg, Mr. Abagnale said he made no money on it and had no say on how the move was made. He said he thought the movie would be “difficult on his kids” to see, but he said he was pleased with the outcome.

Steven Spielberg made the movie “not to show what I did but to show what I have become,” he said.