A 39-year-old Wall Street executive, Andrew Caspersen came from a life of privilege and opportunity: Groton, Princeton and then Harvard Law School, where the student center is named after his family because of a generous gift from his father.

But the father had a secret that emerged only after he committed suicide in 2009: Finn M.W. Caspersen, a noted financier and philanthropist, was at the time being investigated by federal authorities, suspected of hiding tens of millions of dollars in a tax shelter.

Now it appears that his son, a former Blackstone Group managing principal, may have had his own secret.

Andrew Caspersen was arrested at La Guardia Airport on Saturday evening. On Monday, federal prosecutors working for Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for Manhattan, charged him in a criminal complaint with securities and wire fraud in what they called a “brazen” scheme to defraud investors — including a foundation affiliated with a major New York hedge fund — of up to $95 million.