US businesswoman Charlie Javice (L), founding father of Frank, arrives for her sentencing listening to at federal court docket in Manhattan on Sept. 29, 2025, in New York Metropolis.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Photographs
Charlie Javice, founding father of a startup acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2021 for $175 million, was sentenced to simply greater than seven years in jail Monday for defrauding the financial institution by overstating what number of clients the fintech agency had, Reuters reported.
In March, a 12-person jury discovered Javice and her chief development officer Olivier Amar responsible on three counts of fraud and one depend of conspiracy to commit fraud. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 12 years.
Javice, 33, cried as she delivered an emotional assertion to the court docket Monday. Standing to deal with the choose, Javice mentioned she felt profound regret for her actions and requested for forgiveness from JPMorgan, workers of the startup, shareholders and traders.
At one level, Javice turned and immediately addressed her household, sitting within the entrance row, to apologize and thank them for what she referred to as unwavering assist.
“I’ll spend my complete life regretting these errors,” Javice mentioned.
“I am asking with all of my coronary heart for forgiveness,” she mentioned. “I ask your Honor to mood justice with mercy … I’ll settle for your judgement with dignity and humility.”
JPMorgan purchased the startup, referred to as Frank, to assist the largest U.S. financial institution by belongings market its monetary merchandise to college students. Frank was a digital platform that helped college students apply for monetary assist. In September 2021, JPMorgan instructed CNBC in an unique interview on the deal that the fintech agency had served greater than 5 million college students since Javice based it.
However months after the deal closed, JPMorgan found that Frank had fewer than 300,000 actual clients; the remaining had been artificial identities created by Javice with the assistance of an information scientist.
Javice was arrested in 2023 on fees that she defrauded JPMorgan within the deal. Particulars that emerged later confirmed that Frank workers expressed disbelief when Javice directed them to spice up their buyer roster earlier than the acquisition.
The week earlier than promoting her firm to JPMorgan, Javice directed an worker to manufacture hundreds of thousands of customers. When the worker declined, Javice reassured him, in keeping with testimony given earlier this yr.
“She mentioned: ‘Don’t be concerned. I do not wish to find yourself in an orange jumpsuit,'” the worker testified.
Not Theranos
A courtroom sketch of Charlie Javice at her sentencing at court docket on Sept. 29, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
Elizabeth Williams | CNBC
On Monday, Javice’s lawyer Ronald Sullivan argued for a lighter sentence for his consumer, making the case that Frank helped clients. He contrasted the case towards that of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos infamy, whose fraud he mentioned had “harmful medical penalties” and who was sentenced to 135 months in jail.
“Ms. Javice’s sentence must be nowhere close to Elizabeth Holmes’,” Sullivan instructed the choose.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Micah Fergenson disagreed, arguing that Javice’s crime was fueled by greed.
“JPMorgan did not get a functioning enterprise, they acquired against the law scene,” Fergenson mentioned.
The episode was embarrassing for JPMorgan, which was regarded as one of the vital subtle of company acquirers. Involved about threats from fintech and large tech companies, the financial institution, led by CEO Jamie Dimon, went on a procuring spree of smaller fintech companies beginning in 2020.
However JPMorgan, wanting to edge out rivals bidding for the startup, failed to substantiate that Frank really had hundreds of thousands of consumers earlier than shelling out $175 million for the corporate.
This story is growing. Please verify again for updates.
