Washington State Auditor's Office

The first major fraudster trial of 2025 in the U.S. begins on February 10th, featuring Charlie Javice, the 31-year-old founder of Frank. Her alleged crime? Selling JPMorgan Chase on a $175 million lie. Once a Forbes “30 Under 30” star, Javice now becomes the 8th member of that list to be charged with fraud, joining the likes of SBF and Elizabeth Holmes. Here’s how she fooled the world, and how it all fell apart. 👇 🎯 The Pitch: What Was Frank? Frank promised to make FAFSA - the notoriously complex financial aid process - simple, quick, and student-friendly. But that wasn’t why JPM paid $175M. They were after Frank’s 4.5 million “engaged users,” young, college-bound customers they could convert into lifelong banking clients. The problem? Frank didn’t have 4.5 million users. 🕵️♀️ How Charlie Pulled It Off When JPM asked to verify the user data during due diligence, Javice refused, citing “privacy concerns.” But what she did next is straight out of a crime thriller: 1. Faked the Data: She hired a professor for $18K to create synthetic profiles with fake names and emails. When her engineer questioned the legality, she said: “Don’t worry, no one will end up in an orange jumpsuit over this.” (Spoiler: This likely aged poorly.) 2. Bought Email Lists: Spent $105K on unrelated names and $70K more matching emails to fake profiles. 3. Destroyed Evidence: Allegedly tampered with records to hide the fraud. The scheme collapsed when JPM emailed 400,000 supposed users: ➡️Only 28% of emails were delivered (vs. JPM’s usual 99%). ➡️Just 1.1% were opened (industry average: 20–30%). ➡️And only 103 people clicked through. JPM realized they’d been sold vaporware. 🚩 Red Flags JPM Missed 1. Too Good to Be True Frank claimed 4.5 million users in four years, an absurd growth trajectory for a niche product. 2. Privacy Excuse Javice dodged data verification with “privacy concerns.” JPM should have demanded anonymized, verifiable data. 3. Regulatory Warnings The FTC flagged Frank in 2020 for misleading marketing tied to CARES Act grants. 4. Website Fakery Stock photos were used to represent users. Not a good look. 5. Her Own Track Record In 2017, her NY Times opinion piece on FAFSA required 8 major corrections. 🔍 What Enabled the Scam? Javice’s story is a masterclass in the fraud triangle: 👉Need: She had to justify the $175M valuation. 👉Opportunity: JPM’s focus on strategic potential left gaps in due diligence. 👉Rationalization: Javice allegedly told herself this was just a “necessary” step to close the deal. 🌟The $175M Lesson: Trust is good. Verification is better. Could this fraud have been stopped? Absolutely. Stronger due diligence, independent audits, and a healthy dose of skepticism could’ve saved JPM from this costly embarrassment. _________ I’m Tom Hardin, aka "Tipper X". As a speaker, I share a gripping personal story that inspires teams to think critically and challenges leaders to elevate integrity. More👉TipperX.com