Charlie Javice, the founder of college financial aid startup Frank who was convicted of defrauding JPMorgan $JPM Chase, is seeking a presidential pardon from the Trump administration, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Javice, sentenced to more than 7 years for fabricating millions of customer accounts, has not yet appeared on a formal Justice Department clemency list
Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Charlie Javice, the founder of college financial aid startup Frank who was convicted of defrauding JPMorgan $JPM Chase, is seeking a presidential pardon from the Trump administration, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Her camp has quietly reached out to figures connected to the Trump administration in hopes of building support for a pardon, citing people familiar with the matter. Her name has not appeared on a formal clemency request list at the Justice Department. A spokesman for Javice declined to comment.
JPMorgan acquired Frank in 2021 for $175 million after Javice represented the startup as having more than four million customers. When JPMorgan examined the actual customer rolls, it found the true figure was below 300,000, CNBC reported. According to prosecutors, Javice deliberately manufactured false evidence purporting to show a customer base of millions. After a jury returned guilty verdicts on all four fraud counts, a judge handed down a sentence exceeding seven years in prison last September. She is appealing the verdict, arguing the case against her was unfair.
Her bid for clemency arrives at a moment when the Journal has reported that White House officials are entertaining the idea of using the nation's semiquincentennial celebration this summer as an occasion to grant around 250 pardons. The possibility has drawn a flood of applications from defendants convicted of financial crimes.
Among those who have continued to support Javice is Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, an early Frank investor who testified on her behalf at trial and wrote a letter to the sentencing judge arguing for leniency. Since Trump won reelection, Rowan has directed millions of dollars toward Republican congressional committees, on top of prior donations to Trump's campaigns. Rowan is also connected to members of the Trump administration through other efforts, the Journal added.
The pardon bid puts JPMorgan in an uncomfortable position. JPMorgan devoted years to the prosecution and accumulated substantial legal expenses stemming from the ill-fated deal. Complicating matters further is the tension between JPMorgan and Trump himself: following the January 6 Capitol riot, the bank severed ties with Trump-affiliated accounts, a decision Trump has characterized as politically motivated. He has since filed a $5 billion lawsuit against the institution and its chief executive Jamie Dimon, while the bank maintains its actions were apolitical.
Javice still faces a Securities and Exchange Commission civil case.
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