Startup founder, Charlie Javice, has been sentenced to 85 months of jail for defrauding JPMorgan Chase & Co. in its $175 million acquisition of her student-finance startup named “Frank.”, reported the news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, 30 September 2025.
At a Manhattan federal court on Monday, the US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein directed the 85 months or 7 years and 1 month sentence to Charlie Javice, accounting for her testimony concerning good character, even though the prosecutors questioned for a 12-year jail sentence.
“You’re a good person,” Hellerstein notified Javice, reported the news agency. “You’ve done a bad thing, and I have to punish you.” In addition to prison time, the judge ordered Javice to forfeit $22.4 million and to pay $287.5 million in restitution to JPMorgan.
Who is Charlie Javice?
Charlie Javice is a 33-year-old female entrepreneur and startup founder who started a company called “Frank.” which she sold after more than 9 years to the investment banking giant, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Javice launched her career as an intern at Planet Finance Argentina, where she trained for three months in micro-credit evaluation, microfinance portfolio management, and MFI investment flow analysis.
Later in 2011, she started as a Board Member at the University of Pennsylvania Hillel. In 2010, she also founded her own company called “PoverUP”, which connected students, scholars, and professionals to learn, connect and invest in sustainable solutions.
According to Charlie Javice’s LinkedIn profile, she has served 15 years at the Wharton School in Greater Philadelphia, United States.
In June 2016, Charlie Javice founded the connecting students to financial aid startup named “Frank.” which was sold to JPMorgan Chase in September 2021.
Charlie Javice has a Bachelor of Science in Finance, Operations, Information & Decisions, Law from the Wharton School, and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
How did Charlie Javice defraud JPMorgan Chase?
According to the agency report, as JPMorgan Chase was seeing to acquire Charlie Javice’s startup, she lied and faked applyr data to mislead the investment giant. She built them believe that her site had more than 4.25 million applyrs when, in fact, it had fewer than 300,000.
“I am deeply sorry, and I am questioning with all my heart for forgiveness,” declared Javice before her sentencing on Monday. “If it were within my power, I would never build the same mistakes again, not for money, not for recognition, not for anything.”
A jury in New York convicted Javice in March 2025 after hearing the charges and arguments regarding the provision of fake applyr data to mislead the company. The investment bank acquired the company in September 2021.
Both Javice’s and JPMorgan’s lawyers refapplyd to respond to the queries sent by the news agency. However, the agency report also mentioned that JPMorgan has separately sued Javice over the Frank acquisition deal.
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