Think of it as “Law and Order” meets “Criminal Minds.” A former NYPD detective went undercover to crash an Institutional Investor awards event in New York last month at the posh Mandarin Oriental hotel.
His cover was blown however by an alert organizer who checked his credentials before the event. The detective, Allen Caplan, 52, told organizers he was director of the city’s Financial Information Services Agency. He used a false name. Learning that no such individual worked at the FISA, organizers contacted the FBI, which set up a sting operation worthy of a gripping television drama. Undercover agents wearing evening gowns quietly worked the registration desk, writing name tags, passing out magazines, smiling charmingly. They spotted the undercover perp, wine glass in hand, sporting a false name tag on his tuxedo lapel. He was pulled aside, read his rights, handcuffed and led away from the evening extravaganza honoring the nation’s top money managers. Nobody was hurt.
He was later charged with “fraudulently using the name of a city agency to gain free access to an expensive private sector financial awards dinner,” according to the criminal complaint. Caplan’s motive for the party crash is unknown, but authorities take it seriously.
“Impersonating a city official can have a variety of problematic consequences,” Rose Gill Hearn, a spokesperson for the city of New, told the New York Post, “which is why it is a crime.”
Find out what Caplan missed in our online coverage of the Money Management Awards ceremony .
