 "Photo: Lauren Gerson/The Daily Texan")
One of the world’s most famous con men gave advice to students on campus Tuesday.
Frank Abagnale, whose autobiography “Catch Me If You Can” turned into a film of the same name and who is now the CEO of a financial fraud consultancy company, spoke to students in the Texas Union Ballroom, sponsored by UT’s Distinguished Speakers Committee.
The Distinguished Speakers Committee has hosted a variety of authors, comedians and poets in previous years, but Cody Johnson, Distinguished Speakers Committee chair, said Frank Abagnale represents a different kind of speaker.
“This is kind of an untapped genre. He’s a person who’s kind of had a story of redeeming himself,” Johnson said. “Now, he helps prevent the same things that he used to do. That’s something we thought was interesting rather than our regular sports star.”
Over the course of five years, Abagnale impersonated an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer, all before his 22nd birthday.
Some of the lecturers the committee hosted in the past stirred up controversy, but Johnson said it is important for students to hear different views.
“We’re all about trying to have an open dialogue,” Johnson said.
The reformed con man shared advice he said he gathered over the years after giving a brief summary of all of his exploits. His criminal activity began shortly after his parents were divorced.
Abagnale said he and his siblings were kept out of the loop and surprised by the news, which came from a judge when Abagnale was summoned into a courtroom without explanation. Since he was 16 at the time, Abagnale was expected to decide which parent he would rather live with.
“A stranger told me to choose between my mother and my father,” Abagnale said. “There was no choice, so I ran.”
Abagnale ran away from home and sought employment for a while but found the pay insufficient. He said this was the beginning of his life as an outlaw.
He had several close calls throughout his criminal career, but as an adolescent he didn’t have a sense of fear or consequences. But Abagnale said he was aware the whole time that one day his charade would come to an end.
“I knew I couldn’t get away with it forever,” he said. “The reality is, you get tired of running and tired of people chasing you.”
Abagnale was caught after five years of forgery and impersonation and spent time in French, Swiss and American prisons. Abagnale said the next chapter of his life began when the FBI reduced his sentence in return for unpaid help in catching check-forgers much like himself.
“Prison rehabilitates no one,” he said. “Prison did nothing for me ... My life didn’t change until I met my wife.”
Abagnale said the importance of family and the responsibility of being a father were the only two factors in his life that made him change the man he was. He said he found peace in the family life he established but is burdened by the crimes he committed in his past.
“Life is very long, so the mistakes you make, you have to live with for many, many, many years,” he said.
