Frank Abagnale Jr., CEO of Abagnale & Associates, famous criminal
Frank William Abagnale Jr. (; born April 27, 1948) is an American author and convicted felon. He gained notoriety in the late 1970s with biographical claims that included working as an assistant state attorney general in Louisiana, a hospital physician in Georgia, a professor in Utah, and a Pan American World Airways pilot who logged over two million air miles. According to Abagnale, he began to con people and pass bad checks when he was 15 years old. During his teens and early twenties he was arrested multiple times and was convicted and imprisoned in the United States and Europe. In 1980, Abagnale co-wrote a book on his life, Catch Me If You Can, that inspired the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg, in which Abagnale was portrayed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. He has also written four other books. Abagnale runs Abagnale and Associates, a consultancy firm.The veracity of most of Abagnale's claims has been questioned and in many cases outright refuted. In 2002, Abagnale admitted on his website that some facts had been over-dramatized or exaggerated, though he was not specific about what was exaggerated or omitted about his life. In 2020, journalist Alan C. Logan provided documentary evidence that the majority of Abagnale's claims had been at best wildly exaggerated and at worst completely invented.