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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 20 – 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 18 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.

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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