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Charlie Javice, a 31-year-old entrepreneur sentenced to more than seven years in prison for defrauding JPMorgan Chase when she sold her startup to the bank for $175 million, has been seeking a presidential pardon from the Trump administration, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
Javice and her allies have been working to solicit support from people close to the Trump administration for a possible pardon, according to the people familiar. A spokesman for Javice declined to comment.
The White House is considering a plan for President Trump to issue 250 pardons this summer as part of the celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday, the Journal reported. Trump’s willingness to grant clemency has prompted a surge in requests, particularly from white-collar criminals. Javice’s name has not appeared on a formal list of pardon requests submitted to the Justice Department. A White House official said Trump is the ultimate decider on any clemency-related actions.
Javice founded Frank, a college financial-aid platform, and sold it to JPMorgan in 2021, promising the bank access to what she said were four million young customers to pitch bank accounts and credit cards. The bank found she had only a fraction of that number. She was arrested in 2023 on fraud charges.
Prosecutors said Javice created bogus evidence that her company had millions of customers who did not actually exist. A jury convicted her on four counts of fraud, and she was sentenced in September to more than seven years in prison. Her attorneys have argued that her prosecution was unfair, alleging that the Justice Department improperly colluded with JPMorgan to bring the case. In an October 2023 memorandum, her then-attorney Alex Spiro wrote that the government had “worked hand-in-glove” with the bank, “receiving curated sets of documents, access to witnesses, and suggestions as to targets for third-party subpoenas.” During the trial, lawyers said that prosecuting Javice alongside her co-executive Olivier Amar created an effective double trial that led each executive to produce more damaging claims about the other.
Even after her conviction, some of Javice’s original investors have continued to support her, including Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan. Rowan, an early investor in Frank, testified in her defense and wrote a letter to the sentencing judge arguing that Javice still had much to contribute to society. Earlier this year, JPMorgan sued a trust controlled by Rowan to try to recover money from the Frank deal; the two sides settled without disclosing terms. Rowan is also close with members of the Trump administration and was recently named to the Board of Peace, an international effort led by Steve Witkoff, Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner to pledge billions of dollars to rebuild the Gaza Strip.
Javice still faces a civil case from the Securities and Exchange Commission and a continuing legal battle with JPMorgan over what the bank said were excessive legal fees that totaled $74 million, including charges for cellulite butter and $530 in gummy bears. The Journal also reported that JPMorgan and CEO Jamie Dimon have endured years of embarrassment over the botched purchase of Frank.