The American businesswoman Charlie Javice (L), founder of Frank, arrives for her condemnation audience for the Federal Court of Manhattan on September 29, 2025 in New York.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty images
Charlie Javice, founder of a startup acquired by Jpmorgan Chase in 2021 for $ 175 million, was sentenced to more than 7 years in prison on Monday for having thrilled the bank by overestimating the number of customers that Fintech had, Reuters reported.
In March, a jury of 12 people admitted Javice and his chief of growth Olivier Amar guilty for three fraud chiefs and a conspiracy chief to commit fraud. The prosecutors had asked for a 12 -year sentence.
Javice, 33, cried by making an emotional statement in the court. Standing to address the judge, Javice said she felt deep remorse for her actions and had asked for forgiveness in JPMorgan, startup employees, shareholders and investors. At one point, Javice turned and addressed his family directly, sitting in the front row, to apologize and thank them for what she called unshakable support.
“I will spend all my life regretting these mistakes,” said Javice.
“I ask forgiveness for my heart,” she said. “I ask your honor to temper justice with mercy … I will accept your judgment with dignity and humility.”
JPMorgan bought the startup, called Frank, to help the largest American bank by assets to market its financial products to students. Frank was a digital platform that helped students request financial assistance. In September 2021, JPMorgan declared to CNBC in an exclusive interview on the agreement that Fintech had served more than 5 million students since Javice founded it.
But months after the conclusion of the agreement, JPMorgan discovered that Frank had less than 300,000 real customers; The others were synthetic identities created by Javice using a data scientist.
Javice was arrested in 2023 for having defrauded Jpmorgan in the agreement. The details that emerged later showed that Frank employees expressed their disbelief when Javice ordered them to stimulate their list of customers before the acquisition.
The week before selling her business in JPMorgan, Javice led an employee to make millions of users. When the employee refused, Javice reassured him, according to the testimony given earlier this year.
“She said,” Don’t worry. I do not want to find myself in an orange combination “”, testified the employee.
Javice’s lawyer Ronald Sullivan, while pleading for a lighter sentence for his client, argued that Frank helped people. He contrasted the case against that of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos Infamie, whose fraud he said had “dangerous medical consequences” and which was sentenced to 135 months in prison.
“The sentence of Ms. Javice should be nowhere near Elizabeth Holmes,” Sullivan told judge on Monday.
Deputy Prosecutor of the United States, Micah Fergenson, has disagreed, arguing that Javice’s crime was fueled by greed.
“JPMorgan did not get a functional business, they acquired a crime scene,” said Fergenson.
The episode was embarrassing for JPMorgan, who was considered one of the most sophisticated business buyers. Concerned about the threats of Fintech and large technological companies, the bank, led by CEO Jamie Dimon, made a shopping trip from small businesses from 2020.
But JPMorgan, eager to stress its features for the auctions for the startup, did not confirm that Frank had in fact millions of customers before unleashing $ 175 million for the company.
This story is developing. Please check the updates.
