Frank fraud (Charlie Javice)

Frank was a New York startup founded by Charlie Javice that helped students apply for federal financial aid. In September 2021 JPMorgan Chase bought it for $175 million, relying on Javice's claim that Frank had more than four million users. Prosecutors said the real figure was under 300,000, and that Javice and Olivier Amar, Frank's chief growth officer, had a data scientist generate millions of fake customer records to back up the claim. JPMorgan discovered the gap after a marketing test failed, sued Javice and Amar in Delaware in December 2022, and the founders countersued over unpaid legal fees. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged both in 2023, and the SEC filed a parallel civil case. A jury convicted them on all four counts in March 2025. Javice was sentenced to 85 months and Amar to 68 months in prison, and the court ordered both to pay more than $287 million in restitution. Javice has appealed to the Second Circuit.