by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 21 – JPMorgan Chase bought a start-up called Frank, which claimed to have 4 million students signed up to file their FAFSA forms, for $175 million. Then Chase learned Frank had only 300,000 customers.
On April 4, 2023, Frank founder Ms. Charlie Javice was brought before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses and was freed on $2 million bond.
On January 24, 2025 Inner City Press published the first book on the case, Fintech Fraudster? here
Inner City Press live tweeted the more than two hour hearing on January 23, here. Trial was delayed one week to February 18.
On February 4 the defendants reduced their request to eight staffers. Full thread here
In the February 20 openings, both defendants' lawyers hammered JPM Chase, with Javice's Baez naming Jamie Dimon and his hunger for acquisitions. The US Attorney's Office objected; Judge Hellerstein said the case is not about JPM Chase. We'll see. Full thread here.
On February 21 as Houston Cowan took the stand, then paused due to audio problems, Javice filed against "evidence of alleged misrepresentations to Bank-1, a mere potential acquirer of Frank through the government’s anticipated first witness. Because the alleged misrepresentation to Bank-1 is predicated on invalidated fraud theories, evidence and argument regarding Bank-1 should be excluded." Letter on Patreon here.
Continued thread on X for Subscriber here and Substack here
This case is USA v. Javice, et al., 1:23-cr-251 (Hellerstein)
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