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Charlie Javice has been sentenced for tricking JPMorgan into paying $175M for her fintech startup.
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Javice was convicted of fraud in March for lying that her website, Frank, had 4 million Gen-Z users.
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In fact, her student financial aid platform never had more than 300,000 users.
Charlie Javice is going to prison for the better part of a decade.
On Monday, a Manhattan federal judge sentenced Javice to seven years in prison for using wildly exaggerated data to fool JPMorgan Chase into paying $175 million for her startup — far more than the 18 months her lawyers asked for.
Javice’s prison sentence will be followed by 3 years of supervised release, resulting in a total 10-year sentence.
The former fintech wunderkind — an alum of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, she scored a one-on-one meeting with JPMC’s powerful CEO, Jamie Dimon, during the 2021 sale negotiations — must also pay over $287 million in restitution to victims and forfeit more than $22 million in ill-gotten gains.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said Javice’s crimes “required a great deal of duplicity,” but that she was “a good person who has done good deeds.”
“I don’t think you will be committing any crimes, and I think you will be devoting your life to service,” Hellerstein told Javice. “But others need to be deterred.”
Javice was convicted in March of conspiracy, wire, and bank fraud for using bogus user-base data to claim Frank — a platform that streamlined the federal financial aid application process, along with offering career and financial advice — had stockpiled the contact information for 4 million users. In fact, Frank never had more than 300,000 users.
Fighting back tears at Monday’s sentencing hearing, Javice, who is 32, said she wishes she could tell her younger self to take a different path.
“At 28, I did something that runs against the grain of my upbringing and every lesson I once claimed to have learned,” she said.
She implored forgiveness from JP Morgan investors whom she defrauded and from Frank employees and investors “whose name, career, or future was in some way stained by proximity to me.”
“Not a day goes by that I do not replay my mistakes, searching for meaning,” Javice said. “Not a day passes that I do not feel profound remorse.”
Prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had sought a 12-year prison sentence and $300 million in restitution.
The hefty sum would compensate for the “enormous victim loss,” prosecutors argued.
-
Charlie Javice has been sentenced for tricking JPMorgan into paying $175M for her fintech startup.
-
Javice was convicted of fraud in March for lying that her website, Frank, had 4 million Gen-Z users.
-
In fact, her student financial aid platform never had more than 300,000 users.
Charlie Javice is going to prison for the better part of a decade.
On Monday, a Manhattan federal judge sentenced Javice to seven years in prison for using wildly exaggerated data to fool JPMorgan Chase into paying $175 million for her startup — far more than the 18 months her lawyers asked for.
Javice’s prison sentence will be followed by 3 years of supervised release, resulting in a total 10-year sentence.
The former fintech wunderkind — an alum of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, she scored a one-on-one meeting with JPMC’s powerful CEO, Jamie Dimon, during the 2021 sale negotiations — must also pay over $287 million in restitution to victims and forfeit more than $22 million in ill-gotten gains.
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said Javice’s crimes “required a great deal of duplicity,” but that she was “a good person who has done good deeds.”
“I don’t think you will be committing any crimes, and I think you will be devoting your life to service,” Hellerstein told Javice. “But others need to be deterred.”
Javice was convicted in March of conspiracy, wire, and bank fraud for using bogus user-base data to claim Frank — a platform that streamlined the federal financial aid application process, along with offering career and financial advice — had stockpiled the contact information for 4 million users. In fact, Frank never had more than 300,000 users.
Fighting back tears at Monday’s sentencing hearing, Javice, who is 32, said she wishes she could tell her younger self to take a different path.
“At 28, I did something that runs against the grain of my upbringing and every lesson I once claimed to have learned,” she said.
She implored forgiveness from JP Morgan investors whom she defrauded and from Frank employees and investors “whose name, career, or future was in some way stained by proximity to me.”
“Not a day goes by that I do not replay my mistakes, searching for meaning,” Javice said. “Not a day passes that I do not feel profound remorse.”
Prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had sought a 12-year prison sentence and $300 million in restitution.
The hefty sum would compensate for the “enormous victim loss,” prosecutors argued.
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