A glamorous businesswoman who once made Forbes ’30 Under 30′ list looks set to spend decades in prison after being convicted of defrauding the country’s largest bank.
Charlie Javice, 32, is facing the possibility of 30 years behind bars after a jury in New York City found her guilty of defrauding JPMorgan Chase out of $175 million.
Javice had founded the startup Frank, a company with software that promised to simplify the filling out of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
The notoriously complex government form is used by students to apply for aid for college or graduate school.
She eventually sold the company to the bank in 2021, with execs testifying that she told them she had over four million clients.
There was only around 300,000 customers. The bank uncovered the inflated number when it tried to contact customers it believed to be real.
Her lawyer Jose Baez told the jury that the bank knew what it was getting in the deal, and accused them of making up the fraud allegations.
Baez said that it was a case of buyer’s remorse after regulatory changes made the data it received in the deal useless to its hope of gaining new younger customers.
Charlie Javice, seen here on Friday, is facing the possibility of a lengthy time behind bars after a jury in New York City found her guilty
Pedestrians approach JP Morgan Chase headquarters, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2023, in New York
Javice had founded the startup Frank, a company with software that promised to simplify the filling out of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
Prosecutors said that the Florida woman deployed a ‘brazen fraud’ to sell her student aid startup to JPMorgan that would have earned her $45 million.
Frank’s chief software engineer, Patrick Vovor, testified that Javice had asked him to generate synthetic data to support her claim over the amount of customers.
Prosecutors said that Javice and her number 2 at the firm Olivier Amar, who was also convicted on Friday, told Vovor it was legal.
They are said to have told him that they didn’t want to end up in orange prison jumpsuits, Vovor testified that he refused to help them.
Seeking to dent Vovor’s credibility, defense lawyers suggested he was resentful that Javice didn´t want to date him. He denied that.
Prosecutors said Javice ended up paying a college friend $18,000 to create millions of fake names with pedigree information.
The results were sent to JPMorgan’s third-party data provider, but testimony showed that firm never checked to ensure the people were real.
Baez claimed in his opening argument that JPMorgan knew how many clients it had before completing the purchase.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recalled the move to buy Frank as a huge mistake, after the bank closed it
Javice, seen here in August 20233, deployed a ‘brazen fraud’ to sell the start up, according to prosecutors
She made the Forbes ’30 under 30′ list in 2019, but put on their ‘Hall of Shame’ in 2023
The bank eventually shuttered Frank, and CEO Jamie Dimon called the acquisition a ‘huge mistake.’
Javice and Amar were convicted on counts including conspiracy, bank fraud and wire fraud charges that are each punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
She started Frank after graduating from Wharton business school and made the Forbes ’30 under 30′ list in 2019, but put on their ‘Hall of Shame’ in 2023.
Javice and Amar will both be sentenced on July 23. A hearing is to be held next week over whether they must wear ankle monitors while awaiting sentencing.
Her lawyers are expected to appeal the decision, arguing for weeks that her trial had been improper due to Amar’s lawyers acting as a ‘second prosecutor’ in the case.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement: ‘While Javice and Amar may have thought that they could lie and cheat their way to a huge payday, their lies caught up with them, and they now stand convicted by a jury of their peers.’