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Forbes “30 Beneath 30” Alum Sentenced to 7 Years for $175 Million JPMorgan Rip-off


Charlie
Javice obtained an 85-month jail sentence this week for fabricating buyer
knowledge to dupe JPMorgan Chase into shopping for her monetary help startup Frank for
$175 million, capping a fraud case that uncovered lapses within the financial institution’s due
diligence course of.

Choose Alvin
Hellerstein of the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York
handed down the sentence after a jury discovered Javice, 33, and her Chief Development
Officer Olivier Amar responsible in March on three fraud counts and one conspiracy
cost. Federal prosecutors had pushed for a 12-year time period.

Javice
broke down whereas addressing the court docket, telling Hellerstein she felt profound
regret and asking forgiveness from JPMorgan, her former
workers, shareholders and buyers. She turned to her household within the
courtroom’s entrance row to apologize and thank them for his or her help.

“I
will spend my whole life regretting these errors,” Javice mentioned. “I am
asking with all of my coronary heart for forgiveness. I ask your Honor to mood justice
with mercy … I’ll settle for your judgment with dignity and humility.”

Hellerstein
acknowledged her phrases had been shifting and praised her life’s work as commendable,
however mentioned he could not grant the forgiveness she sought. He sentenced her not
as a result of she’s a nasty individual, however as a result of deterrence issues.

“I
do not suppose you will be committing different crimes and that you will be devoting your
life to service, however others need to be deterred,” the decide advised Javice.

Faux Accounts Masked Tiny
Consumer Base

JPMorgan
purchased Frank in September 2021 to succeed in faculty college students with banking merchandise.
The financial institution advised CNBC on the time that the platform had served greater than 5
million college students since Javice based it.

That quantity
was fiction. JPMorgan discovered months after closing the deal that Frank had
fewer than 300,000 precise prospects. Javice created the remainder utilizing artificial
identities with assist from a knowledge scientist, in accordance with court docket data.

The fraud
unfolded within the week earlier than the sale. Javice directed an worker to manufacture
tens of millions of customers. When the worker refused, she tried to reassure him.

“She
mentioned: ‘Don’t be concerned. I do not need to find yourself in an orange jumpsuit,'” the
worker testified earlier this yr.

$287 Million Tab for
Failed Deal

Moreover
jail, Hellerstein ordered Javice to serve three years of supervised launch,
forfeit $22.36 million and pay JPMorgan $287 million in restitution. She’ll
keep out on bail whereas interesting.

Her
lawyer Ronald Sullivan argued for leniency, mentioning that Frank really
helped some prospects and contrasting the case with Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos
fraud, which had “harmful medical penalties.” Holmes acquired 135
months.

“Ms.
Javice’s sentence needs to be nowhere close to Elizabeth Holmes,'” Sullivan advised
the decide.

Assistant
U.S. Lawyer Micah Fergenson disagreed, calling Javice’s crime greed-driven.

“JPMorgan
did not get a functioning enterprise, they acquired a criminal offense scene,” Fergenson
mentioned.

Financial institution’s Shopping for Spree
Backfires

The episode
embarrassed JPMorgan, thought of among the many most refined company consumers.
CEO Jamie Dimon
had launched an acquisition push beginning in 2020, snapping up fintech
corporations to counter threats from tech giants and upstart opponents.

However the
financial institution’s rush to beat rival bidders for Frank meant it by no means verified the
buyer numbers earlier than writing a $175 million examine. Javice, who had been
featured on Forbes’s “30 below 30” listing, was arrested in 2023 after
JPMorgan found the fraud and shut down Frank.

You may additionally like associated tales:

Charlie
Javice obtained an 85-month jail sentence this week for fabricating buyer
knowledge to dupe JPMorgan Chase into shopping for her monetary help startup Frank for
$175 million, capping a fraud case that uncovered lapses within the financial institution’s due
diligence course of.

Choose Alvin
Hellerstein of the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York
handed down the sentence after a jury discovered Javice, 33, and her Chief Development
Officer Olivier Amar responsible in March on three fraud counts and one conspiracy
cost. Federal prosecutors had pushed for a 12-year time period.

Javice
broke down whereas addressing the court docket, telling Hellerstein she felt profound
regret and asking forgiveness from JPMorgan, her former
workers, shareholders and buyers. She turned to her household within the
courtroom’s entrance row to apologize and thank them for his or her help.

“I
will spend my whole life regretting these errors,” Javice mentioned. “I am
asking with all of my coronary heart for forgiveness. I ask your Honor to mood justice
with mercy … I’ll settle for your judgment with dignity and humility.”

Hellerstein
acknowledged her phrases had been shifting and praised her life’s work as commendable,
however mentioned he could not grant the forgiveness she sought. He sentenced her not
as a result of she’s a nasty individual, however as a result of deterrence issues.

“I
do not suppose you will be committing different crimes and that you will be devoting your
life to service, however others need to be deterred,” the decide advised Javice.

Faux Accounts Masked Tiny
Consumer Base

JPMorgan
purchased Frank in September 2021 to succeed in faculty college students with banking merchandise.
The financial institution advised CNBC on the time that the platform had served greater than 5
million college students since Javice based it.

That quantity
was fiction. JPMorgan discovered months after closing the deal that Frank had
fewer than 300,000 precise prospects. Javice created the remainder utilizing artificial
identities with assist from a knowledge scientist, in accordance with court docket data.

The fraud
unfolded within the week earlier than the sale. Javice directed an worker to manufacture
tens of millions of customers. When the worker refused, she tried to reassure him.

“She
mentioned: ‘Don’t be concerned. I do not need to find yourself in an orange jumpsuit,'” the
worker testified earlier this yr.

$287 Million Tab for
Failed Deal

Moreover
jail, Hellerstein ordered Javice to serve three years of supervised launch,
forfeit $22.36 million and pay JPMorgan $287 million in restitution. She’ll
keep out on bail whereas interesting.

Her
lawyer Ronald Sullivan argued for leniency, mentioning that Frank really
helped some prospects and contrasting the case with Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos
fraud, which had “harmful medical penalties.” Holmes acquired 135
months.

“Ms.
Javice’s sentence needs to be nowhere close to Elizabeth Holmes,'” Sullivan advised
the decide.

Assistant
U.S. Lawyer Micah Fergenson disagreed, calling Javice’s crime greed-driven.

“JPMorgan
did not get a functioning enterprise, they acquired a criminal offense scene,” Fergenson
mentioned.

Financial institution’s Shopping for Spree
Backfires

The episode
embarrassed JPMorgan, thought of among the many most refined company consumers.
CEO Jamie Dimon
had launched an acquisition push beginning in 2020, snapping up fintech
corporations to counter threats from tech giants and upstart opponents.

However the
financial institution’s rush to beat rival bidders for Frank meant it by no means verified the
buyer numbers earlier than writing a $175 million examine. Javice, who had been
featured on Forbes’s “30 below 30” listing, was arrested in 2023 after
JPMorgan found the fraud and shut down Frank.

You may additionally like associated tales:



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