Kelly A. (Welbes) Abagnale (born 1954)

Wikipedia Frank William Abagnale Jr. (/ˈæbəɡneɪl/; born April 27, 1948) is an American author and convicted felon. Abagnale targeted individuals and small businesses but gained notoriety in the late 1970s by claiming a diverse range of victimless workplace frauds,[4] many of which are now in doubt. In 1980, Abagnale co-wrote his autobiography, Catch Me If You Can, which built a narrative around these claimed victimless frauds. The book later inspired the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg in 2002, in which Abagnale was portrayed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. He has also written four other books. Abagnale runs Abagnale and Associates, a consultancy firm. Among others, Abagnale claims to have worked as an assistant state attorney general in the U.S. state of Louisiana, a hospital physician in Georgia, and impersonated a Pan American World Airways pilot and logged over two million air miles by deadheading. The veracity of most of Abagnale's claims has been questioned and continue to suggest that he made them up. 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 evidence he claims proves the majority of Abagnale's story had been at best exaggerated or invented. The public records obtained by Logan have since been independently verified by journalist Javier Leiva.