Charlie Javice has been sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding JP Morgan Chase in the $175 million deal to buy her fintech Frank.
Javice was sentenced by a federal judge after a jury in March found her guilty of securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy.
In court she apologised to her parents, boyfriend and "the shareholders of JPMorgan," adding that "at my core I still believe I'm a good person," according to the Financial Times.
JPMorgan agreed to buy student financial aid assistance fintech Frank in late 2021, but, in December 2022, the bank sued Javice, accusing her of creating a list of millions of fake users to get the deal completed.
At the trial, acting Manhattan US Attorney Matthew Podolsky accused Javice of falsely assuring the US bank that Frank had 4.25 million customers, not the 300,000 it actually had.
Prosecutors stated that Javice committed “a brazen scheme to defraud” JPMorgan and “lied directly to JPMC and fabricated data to support those lies — all in order to make over $45 million from the sale of her company".
In addition to the prison term, Javice has been ordered to pay restitution to JPMorgan of $288 million and to forfeit another $22 million.
However, she has been allowed to remain free on bail as she pursues an appeal.