Entrepreneur Charlie Javice Sentenced to Over Seven Years for Defrauding JPMorgan

Charlie Javice, the entrepreneur found guilty of defrauding JPMorgan Chase into acquiring her college financial aid startup Frank for $175 million, was sentenced on Monday to just over seven years in prison.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. district judge Alvin Hellerstein during a hearing in Manhattan federal court. Javice, 33, had been convicted in March on all four charges she faced: bank fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. She had pleaded not guilty and is expected to appeal her conviction. Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office had sought a 12-year sentence.

Javice launched Frank in 2017, receiving praise for making the college financial aid process easier for students and their families. Her rapid rise in the finance world saw her named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list in 2019. JPMorgan acquired the company in September 2021, but soon after the purchase, the bank realized it was unable to reach most of the customers Javice claimed to have. The bank later determined that her customer list had been fabricated.

According to prosecutors, Javice asserted that Frank had 4.25 million users when in reality the figure was closer to 300,000. Following the revelation, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon described the acquisition of Frank as a “huge mistake.”

Attorneys for Javice argued for a sentence well below the 12 years requested by prosecutors, framing her actions as a “lapse of judgment” and maintaining that the impact on JPMorgan was negligible.

In September, Javice expanded her defense team by bringing in appellate lawyer Alexandra Shapiro, who has represented high-profile clients such as disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is preparing to appeal his conviction on prostitution-related charges, as well as cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who is appealing his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence.

Javice’s co-defendant, Olivier Amar, who served as Frank’s chief growth officer, was convicted on the same charges. His sentencing is set for 20 October.

By fLEXI tEAM