NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - Entrepreneur Charlie
Javice was convicted on Friday of defrauding JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )
into buying her college financial aid startup Frank for
$175 million in July 2021.
Javice and co-defendant Olivier Amar, who was Frank's chief
growth officer, were each convicted on all four counts they
faced: securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy.
The verdict followed a five-week trial in Manhattan federal
court before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.
Javice showed no emotion as the verdict was read.
The judge scheduled Amar's sentencing for July 23 and
Javice's for August 26. They each could face decades in prison,
though Hellerstein has broad discretion in determining their
punishment.
"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," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky, whose
office brought the charges, said in a statement.
In court after the verdict, Amar's lawyer, Sean Buckley, said,
"He intends to continue to fight these charges."
Lawyers for Javice declined to comment to reporters after the
verdict.
Javice studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton
School and founded Frank in 2017.
She appeared on Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30" list in
2019, drawing media praise for simplifying college financial aid
for students and parents.
But JPMorgan ( JPM ) sued her in December 2022, saying she lied
about Frank's customer base. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's
office brought criminal charges four months later.
Prosecutors accused Javice of falsely assuring the largest
U.S. bank that Frank had 4.25 million customers, not the 300,000
it actually had.
JPMorgan ( JPM ) discovered the inflated number when it tried to
contact customers it believed were real to sell products, and
received far fewer responses than expected, prosecutors said.
Jamie Dimon, the bank's longtime chief executive, has
called the Frank acquisition a "huge mistake."
A spokesperson for the bank declined to comment on the
verdict.
JUDGE TO DECIDE ON ANKLE BRACELET
In her opening statement, prosecutor Rushmi Bhaskaran said
Amar bought "sham lists" of student data from third parties,
which he and Javice could pass off as customers to JPMorgan ( JPM ).
Javice's lawyer Jose Baez told jurors that JPMorgan ( JPM ) performed
extensive due diligence and knew how many clients Frank had
before completing the purchase, but complained due to "buyer's
remorse."
Baez said JPMorgan ( JPM ) claimed it had been hoodwinked only when the
bank wanted to get out of its contract with Frank because
financial aid regulations changed, and that fraud was the only
condition that allowed it to back out.
Javice, now a Florida resident, and Amar pleaded not guilty.
Neither testified at the trial.
Hellerstein will decide on April 1 whether Javice requires
full-time location monitoring.
Her lawyer, Ronald Sullivan, said Javice's income now comes from
teaching Pilates, which she cannot do with an ankle bracelet.
(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Luc Cohen in New York;
Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Rod Nickel
and Daniel Wallis)
(c) Reuters 2025. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.