This 32-year-old Pilates instructor told ‘lies’ that duped JPMorgan out of $175M. Here's how she did it

4 hours ago 7

Chris Clark

Mon, Apr 21, 2025, 6:15 AM 5 min read

Charlie Javice was the young, charismatic laminitis down Frank, a fintech startup that promised to revolutionize the then-daunting pupil fiscal assistance process.

Javice’s bold imaginativeness to simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) gained recognition, landing her connected Forbes' prestigious "30 Under 30" list. More media attraction — and capitalist involvement — weren’t acold behind.

I'm 49 years aged and person thing saved for status — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 5 of the easiest ways you tin drawback up (and fast)
Nervous astir the banal marketplace successful 2025? Find retired however you tin entree this $1B backstage existent property money (with arsenic small arsenic $10)
Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you tin present go a landlord for arsenic small arsenic $100 — and no, you don't person to woody with tenants oregon hole freezers. Here's how

Enter banking elephantine JPMorgan Chase, which hoped to leverage Frank’s alleged monolithic idiosyncratic basal of much than 4 cardinal students to summation a stronger foothold successful the lucrative pupil concern market.

The bank’s determination to wage $175 cardinal appeared justified fixed the maturation and standard touted by Javice.

But beneath Javice’s concern model, prosecutors alleged, were fake idiosyncratic accounts and falsified data. Undetected during JPMorgan’s owed diligence process, the strategy yet unraveled into 1 of Wall Street’s astir melodramatic fraud scandals, drafting parallels to the fraud lawsuit of disgraced Theranos person Elizabeth Holmes.

In precocious March national jurors convicted Javice of fraud and conspiracy, mounting the signifier for imaginable decades-long situation sentences for Javice and her co-defendant, Olivier Amar.

At a caller bail hearing, Javice’s lawyer attempted to reason that wearing an ankle show would forestall Javice from doing her existent job: teaching Pilates successful South Florida.

How precisely did Javice negociate to deceive a fiscal powerhouse similar JPMorgan? And what important lessons tin investors instrumentality from the company’s mistakes?

Charlie Javice founded Frank successful 2016, promoting it arsenic a cutting-edge level that would simplify the process of applying for national pupil aid.

By digitizing and streamlining FAFSA, Frank promised students easier entree to fiscal support, dramatically reducing paperwork and bureaucratic hurdles. Javice projected confidence, ambition, and youthful innovation, rapidly positioning Frank arsenic an indispensable instrumentality for college-bound students nationwide.

By 2019, Javice had been wide celebrated for her entrepreneurship and quality to pull task capital. Her portrayal of Frank arsenic a large occurrence story, boasting millions of progressive users, secured her credibility successful fiscal circles.