Startup Founder Sentenced to 7+ Years for $175M Fraud

On September 29, 2025, Charlie Javice, the 33-year-old founder of a startup company called Frank, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for defrauding JPMorgan Chase out of $175 million. Javice had sought to dramatically improve how students apply for financial aid, but she was convicted in March for greatly exaggerating the number of students the company served.

According to the judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, Javice made false records that made it seem Frank had over 4 million customers when it had fewer than 300,000. Hellerstein said Javice committed "a large fraud" by duping the bank giant in the summer of 2021.

While Javice's defense team noted her history of charitable work, including organizing soup kitchens for the homeless as a child and designing career programs for formerly incarcerated women, the judge largely dismissed arguments for leniency. Hellerstein criticized JPMorgan for failing to do adequate due diligence, but ultimately said he was "punishing her conduct and not JPMorgan's stupidity."

Prosecutors had sought a 12-year sentence for Javice, citing a 2022 text in which she called it "ridiculous" that Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the failed blood-testing company Theranos, received over 11 years in prison. Javice's attorney argued she was different from Holmes because her company's product actually worked, unlike Theranos.

In the end, Javice was sentenced to 87 months, or over 7 years, in prison for the $175 million fraud. She acknowledged her "failure has transformed something meaningful into something infamous" and said she would spend her life regretting the choice she made.