Charlie Javice sentenced to 85 months for JPMorgan fraud

Charlie Javice, the founder of the financial aid startup Frank, was sentenced to 85 months in federal prison on September 29, 2025, for defrauding JPMorgan Chase. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.

Javice was found guilty of grossly exaggerating Frank’s customer base to induce JPMC to acquire the company in 2021. The prosecutor stated that Javice falsely claimed Frank had over 4 million customers when the actual number was fewer than 300,000.

She and co-defendant Olivier Amar were convicted after a jury found they had fabricated data, with Javice even hiring an outside data scientist to create a synthetic data set to back up her lies.

Javice personally received over $21 million from the sale. The federal prosecutor had recommended a 12-year sentence, but the judge imposed 85 months.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Hellerstein also criticised JPMC’s due diligence, stating, “they have a lot to blame themselves” for failing to adequately vet the deal, though he quickly added that he was “punishing her conduct and not JPMorgan’s stupidity.”

Javice remains free on a $2 million bail while she appeals the verdict.

Charlie Javice wrote in a letter to the judge: “I accept the jury’s verdict and take full responsibility for my actions. There are no excuses, only regret – I am truly sorry.”

She addressed the court before sentencing, “I am haunted that my failure has transformed something meaningful into something infamous.”

However, Javice’s lawyer, Ronald Sullivan, did argue for leniency from the court.