Today, Frank Abagnale is a leading authority on forgery, secure documents, and identity theft. He runs Abagnale & Associates, a financial fraud consultancy. He has designed many of the security features now found on checks, including the microprinting and high-resolution watermarks that make them difficult to forge.
While hiding out in a New York City diner, two French police officers, tipped off by an airline employee who recognized him, walked in and arrested him. His extradition and trial were a media circus. He served time in France’s infamous Perpignan prison (which he called a "medieval hell"), followed by prisons in Sweden and the United States. After serving five years, Abagnale was released on the condition that he help the federal government—specifically, the FBI. He started by lecturing at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, teaching agents the very techniques he had used to defraud the system. abagnale
When he needed to escape a hot trail in Atlanta, Abagnale landed a job as the supervising resident of a hospital’s pediatric ward. He had no medical training. He learned on the fly, reading textbooks at night and hiding his ignorance behind a stethoscope and a white coat. For 11 months, he assigned nurses, supervised interns, and even delivered a baby—luckily without complications. Today, Frank Abagnale is a leading authority on