More about Frank Gasper's experience

FRANCIS (FRANK) GASPER was born and raised in New York City. Upon graduating cum laude from Manhattan College with a BA in History and Economics, Frank entered the United States Marine Corps. While on active duty, he served as an Infantry Platoon Commander and as an Assistant Operations Officer. Upon leaving active duty, Frank entered Villanova School of Law. Upon graduating cum laude, he was recalled to active duty by the Marine Corps, serving as an Executive Officer of a Light Armored Infantry Company in the Gulf War where he served in combat. Upon returning from the Gulf War, Frank joined the Queens District Attorney's office as an Assistant District Attorney. After serving more than four years as an Assistant District Attorney, in December of 1995, he joined the FBI.

Upon graduating the FBI Academy, Frank was assigned to the New York Division in March of 1996 where he worked in the Organized Crime Branch as a Special Agent (SA) on the Bonanno Squad and the Vincent Asaro case. SA Gasper's work led to Asaro being convicted after two separate trials. In December of 2000, Frank was transferred to the Surveillance Branch, and from there to an undercover support unit. In July of 2003, Frank was transferred to the White-Collar Squad at the White Plains Resident Agency, and served there for the next seven years, specializing in investigations that involved mail fraud, bank fraud and public corruption.

Frank's investigative highlights while in White Plains included the trials and convictions of Alan Walker (President of Program Corporation of America ) and Raviv Laor (who defrauded IBM out of millions of dollars). The Walker case involved more than 60 celebrity victims who Frank prepared for testimony, including: Magic Johnson, Andy Rooney, Scott Carpenter, Martin Luther King III, James Earl Jones, James Carville, and Carol Mosely Braun.

In 2005, Frank discovered and opened the Central Credit Union investigation, where he uncovered a multi-million dollar bank fraud. This fraud involved a credit union president and a loan broker who conspired with 20 individuals to make 32 fraudulent loans over a six-month period. The majority of the borrowers entered guilty pleas and two others were convicted after trial. SA Gasper also uncovered an embezzlement committed by the credit union's CEO, who later pled guilty. After a more than three-year investigation, Frank arrested and convicted Milana Murcia for operating a multi-million-dollar investment fraud scheme over a twenty-year period. During this same period, Frank also served as a TDY ALAT in the embassy in Baghdad, Iraq (2005).

In February 2010, Frank transferred to the Bismarck Resident Agency. Early in this assignment, he investigated numerous violent crimes and public corruption matters that occurred on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Highlights include the conviction of three elected Housing Board members and the CFO of the Standing Rock Tribe. SA Gasper also investigated several bank frauds which lead to the conviction of two bank Vice-Presidents, one for embezzlement and one for bank fraud.

Frank was the initiating and lead agent in Operation Hard Copy, a series of investigations and prosecutions relating to the Jamaican Lottery Fraud telemarketing scam, in which victims are induced to send large sums of money overseas to pay “fees” and “taxes” in order to claim a non-existent sweepstakes award. Originating in North Dakota, the prosecutions resulted in the extradition of 14 defendants from Jamaica, 30 guilty pleas/convictions, and the identification of over 90 elderly or otherwise vulnerable victims with losses approaching $6 million. This investigation directly resulted in several spin-off prosecutions of other lottery scammers throughout the US. In addition, Frank’s efforts led to the first successful prosecutions of lead list providers for their role in supplying names of victims to the scamming industry; this includes Ronald Mendleski, Sanjay Williams, and William Nanry.

In October of 2019, Frank was awarded the US Attorney General Awards for Fraud Prevention for his launching of Operation Hard Copy. Frank has also received the 2018 US Attorney for North Dakota Victims Assistance Award and was named a 2016 Bismarck Tribune Person of the Year Award winner.

Just prior to retiring, Frank obtained the indictment of four individuals, two of whom have been convicted, for their role in a computer intrusion ring that has stolen more than $5 million from victims around the world.