NEW YORK — Former tech entrepreneur Charlie Javice has been sentenced to 85 months (just over 7 years) in federal prison for defrauding JPMorgan Chase in a $175 million acquisition deal involving her college financial aid platform, Frank.
Javice, 33, was convicted in March by a New York jury of multiple fraud charges after prosecutors revealed she had fabricated millions of fake users to inflate the value of her company. She sold the business to JPMorgan in 2021 under false pretenses.
During sentencing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said Javice’s actions constituted “an audacious and multifaceted criminal scheme,” emphasizing that “fraud remains fraud whether you outsmart someone who is very smart or someone who is a fool.”
Prosecutors said Javice had hired a data scientist to create a “synthetic data set” of fake users after a company engineer refused to participate due to legal concerns. JPMorgan was lured by the platform’s promise to simplify student aid applications and to gain access to a younger customer base.
Despite JPMorgan’s poor due diligence, the court held Javice accountable. The U.S. Attorney’s Office had pushed for a 12-year sentence, arguing the scheme was driven by greed.
During the hearing, Javice apologized to JPMorgan, investors, and former employees, expressing remorse while addressing her parents in court.
“At 28, I did something which runs against the grain of my upbringing,” she said. “These errors, this complete collapse in character… not a day goes by that I do not replay my mistakes.”
She was also ordered to forfeit certain assets and will be subject to supervised release following her prison term.
