Frank Abagnale, a conman, gets an ethics award
On September 12, 2022, Frank Abagnale was honored with a Heroes in Ethics award at Xavier University. An ethics award for a conman!
Unlike the general public, who were spellbound by the myth surrounding Abagnale’s life, Xavier University knew precisely who they were honoring that night. They can’t claim ignorance because I wrote the University and told them they had the wrong guy. Frank Abagnale doesn’t deserve an ethics award. He lied about his entire life story. Was Malala busy that week? She deserves an ethics award. But despite knowing the truth, Xavier University went along with their little ethics ceremony anyway.
Xavier University’s mission is built on moral and ethical responsibility- that’s what it says on its website. And out of all the people in the world making a difference, they chose to honor a guy who ripped off his girlfriend and is accused of feeling up college girls pretending to be a doctor-slash pilot recruiter. But, seriously, did they even read this guy’s Wikipedia page?
Picture a room full of business students, professors, lawyers, accountants, and even current members of the FBI eagerly awaiting Frank Abagnale’s Heroes in Ethics acceptance speech. Little does Frank Abagnale know that Jim Grinstead, host of the Scams and Cons podcast, was in the audience. Jim planned to confront Frank Abagnale during the Q&A portion of the ceremony.
Jim Grinstead: “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?”
Frank Abagnale: “Uh, I don’t believe that’s the case. I don’t give talks about my life. I basically give seminars. Uh, that’s what I do… just like I’m doing this evening. And, uh, obviously again, uh, what I did 50 years ago is irrelevant. I didn’t make the movie, book, or the Broadway musical. If people made money off of telling that story, that was their, uh, prerogative to do that.”
Since Alan Logan’s exposé on Abagnale, titled “The Greatest Hoax,” Abagnale claims he had nothing to do with his own autobiography. Instead, he claims his co-author Stan Redding made the whole thing up. But the truth is that Abagnale has been peddling this lie for years before “Catch Me If You Can” was published.
The history of deception
True Detective article featuring Frank Abagnale – 1978
You can watch him tell the same lies on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and To Tell the Truth. And two years before “Catch Me If You Can” the book was published, Abagnale’s capers were featured in the True Detective magazine. This magazine interview is proof that Frank Abagnale was making ALL the claims: bar exam, attorney general, professor, Atlanta pediatrician, escape from the Atlanta penitentiary, escape from the airplane toilet, $2.5 million in checks, recruiting co-eds and traveling with them through Europe before the book was ever written.
Why do people believe these lies?
Lisa Beanz, a listener of the PRETEND podcast, wrote, “It’s less about the fact that his story is a lie.” Lisa adds, “What’s more fascinating to me is how no one seems to care despite being exposed multiple times.” She says it’s mind-boggling. And she’s right. It is hard to believe that despite all the truth we put out there, Frank Abagnale will continue to peddle his lies.
Correcting history is hard
But things are starting to change. And we have real-life proof of it. Because of listeners like you, AARP acknowledged that Abagnale is no longer an ambassador to their organization.
And probably the most significant sign that we’ve done our job is that Google added a big fat disclaimer at the beginning of their Frank Abagnale video “Talks at Google.”
The video has almost 15 million views. It’s the first video result when you type in “Frank Abagnale” in the search bar. Because of listeners like you, the video now starts with a disclaimer warning viewers that says, “Google does not endorse or condone the content within the video, nor does it lay claim to the validity of the actions described.” YouTube also shut down the comments and decided to keep the video posted for historical purposes only.
That’s huge! Together, we’ve made a gigantic structural crack in the Abganle facade. The podcast, Alan Logan’s book, your emails… it’s working. For the first time, organizations like Xavier University acknowledged the controversy. Organizations like AARP have publicly stated that his life story has been debunked. And Google, a tech giant pledging to combat misinformation, added a disclaimer to its most popular video on Abagnale.
Frank Abagnale wants people to remember him for his contribution to cybercrime and fraud, not for what he did 50 years ago. But, unfortunately, it’s not that easy to forget. His victims still remember. And that emotional scab tears every time he steps on stage and glorifies his criminal past.
Listen to part 8 of The Real Catch Me If You Can on Apple Podcast or Spotify. Or start at the beginning with part 1.