According to a prosecutor in a criminal trial, a Florida woman employed a bold scheme to sell her student aid company to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $175 million by greatly inflating its customer base. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Chiuchiolo urged the jury at a Manhattan federal court to find Charlie Javice and another former top executive of her company guilty of conspiracy and fraud.
Defense attorney Jose Baez, on the other hand, sought an acquittal for his client, emphasizing the flawed nature of the evidence presented. He encouraged the jury to thoroughly examine the evidence, or lack thereof, and the contradictions within it to clear Javice of the charges. Throughout the proceedings, Javice displayed a smile, occasionally turning to face the jury.
Prosecutors claim that Javice, who hails from Miami Beach, Florida and was recognized on the Forbes “30 Under 30” list in 2019, stood to gain $45 million from the fraudulent activity. Chiuchiolo’s argument was supported by a trail of emails, text messages, and phone conversations allegedly demonstrating Javice’s repeated falsehoods to JPMorgan in mid-2021 to secure a lucrative deal.
Initially founded as TAPD Inc. in 2017, Frank aimed to simplify the process of completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a crucial form for students seeking financial assistance for higher education. Chiuchiolo asserted that Javice, who was arrested in April 2023 and is presently out on bail, misrepresented Frank’s customer base when negotiating a sale in 2021, claiming the company had over 4.25 million customers when it in fact had around 400,000.
When JPMorgan Chase questioned the validity of the client list, Javice allegedly attempted to fabricate data with the help of the company’s head of engineering but was met with refusal. Subsequently, she hired an external data scientist for $105,000 to artificially inflate the customer count to over 4.2 million.
Javice opted not to take the stand during the five-week trial, with the jury set to commence deliberations on Thursday.
