Charlie Javice, the founder of the financial aid startup Frank and a Forbes 30 Under 30 alumnus, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud. The fintech startup was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2021 for 175 million dollars. The bank later accused Javice of lying about the company’s customer base. The founder had claimed the company had four million customers, but it actually had only 300,000. It was evident that JPMorgan Chase did not perform its due diligence before agreeing to the purchase.
During the trial, a former Frank engineer, Patrick Vovor, testified that Javice asked him to create fake user data prior to the sale. When he declined, Javice then asked a math professor and data scientist, Adam Kapelner, for help creating synthetic data. Kapelner provided key testimony for the prosecution.
Along with her co-defendant, Frank’s chief growth officer Olivier Amar, Javice will be responsible for paying 278.5 million dollars in restitution.