NYC Entrepreneur’s Legal Battle over $175 Million Fraud

The NYC-based entrepreneur and founder of Frank, Charlie Javice is currently under a legal battle, faced with accusations of swindling JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) out of a colossal sum of $175 million. The focal point of her contention lies in an effort to invalidate a text wherein she dubbed her co-defendant as ‘the quintessential accomplice.’ In 2022, prosecutors placed the text before the court arguing that it highlighted a casual attitude towards culpability.

Prosecutors are of the belief that Javice’s text sent to her second-in-command in October 2021, praising him for his job performance was more than a casual jest. The message read, ‘My personal observation is your expertise in being an accomplice is unparalleled.’ She signed off immediately after, ‘End of discussion,’ and received an emoji reaction in return.

Circa one month into the fraud trial unfolding in New York, both sides of the bench refuse to dismiss the comment as a witty remark. As per the prosecution’s viewpoint, Javice and her co-defendant, Olivier Amar, her former deputy hands-on, have indeed partnered in a daring plot to deceive America’s largest bank, JPMC, thereby acquiring $175 million for their edtech startup.

A courtroom battle took place on Tuesday, where the defense attorneys endeavored to prevent jurors from learning about the questionable text messages. During the time when Frank was sold, Javice was recognized and praised in the financial media and Amar served as her prime growth officer.

The prosecution alleges that both Javice and Amar conspired to acquire data of around 4 million students. They managed to clinch the deal with JPMC under the illusion that these students were Frank users. JPMC made the investment intending to promote its banking products to the potential student audience.

According to the claims made by the prosecutors, a full year transpired before the bank came to the realization that the actual number of Frank users was a mere fraction of what was initially proposed, numbering only at 300,000.

Prosecutors argue the exchange containing the phrase ‘partner in crime’ between Javice and Amar comprised of four text messages, are germane and can be considered for admission. As a consequence, they’ve put forth requests to the judge, asking for permission to utilize the exchange as supporting evidence.

According to the prosecutors, ‘This dialogue casually exhibits an awareness of guilt and additionally sheds light on the close relationship between Javice and Amar.’ This happened barely two months post the bank’s acquisition of the startup.

The text conversation between the two initiates on WhatsApp with Amar, a dual citizen of Canada and Israel, who stands accused of secreting away $2 million from the fraudulent scheme, sending a message to his superior, Javice, ‘I wrote a brief self-appraisal, as you instructed.’ Accompanying the message was a smiley face emoji.

Javice, originally from France, responded in kind with a simple smiling emoji, indicating an agreement or shared sentiment. She then shared a cryptic message which read, ‘It’s a superficial evaluation as all compensation patterns are pre-determined.’ This is interpreted to hint at the substantial ‘compensation’ the duo were raking in as a result of the deal.

Prosecutors suggest that Javice, who stood to profit a whopping $45 million from the deal, then proceeded to jest with Amar about revealing their ‘partnership in crime’ to JPMC during a performance evaluation.

Lawyers standing in defense of Amar and Javice are strongly arguing that ‘Javice was simply indulging in humor, as evident from the context,’ especially while referring to the performance evaluation as ‘fake.’ In the course of defending the charges, their counsel has stated that JPMC’s acquisition decision was based on many variables concerning Frank, not solely on the user data.

The defense teams have also put forth a request to the presiding judge, urging them to prevent jurors from being exposed to a conversation on WhatsApp from February 2022 between the two defendants during a video conference.

The contentious text conversation opens with Javice saying ‘Presented him with a jumbled mess of an overview in spreadsheets.’ A minute later, following a single-word response from Amar, ‘fine,’ Javice retorts with a gloomy prediction, ‘we’re in a deep mess.’

According to the prosecutors, they were planning to wrap up their initial case by Tuesday afternoon following these developments