Charlie Javice, the 32-year-old who faces possible prison time for allegedly tricking JPMorgan Chase into buying her fintech startup, has found a new way to pass the time. As she waits for her trial to commence early next year, Javice is apparently focusing on helping others stay healthy.
Javice is working as a fitness instructor, according to a Nov. 7 letter to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is overseeing her case. It’s unclear where she is employed, but Javice’s second act was getting weighed down by a big problem: a clunky 24-hour ankle bracelet the federal court required that she wear.
In a court filing, Javice claimed that the “heavy, cumbersome GPS unit” that is affixed to her ankle caused “physical pain” and impeded her work as a fitness instructor, according to the letter. The device also reportedly caused delays and complications at TSA screening when Javice traveled and when she entered the New York City courthouse to attend hearings.
The Justice Department has accused Javice of fraud related to the $175 million sale of Frank, her financial aid startup, to JPMorgan Chase in September 2021. Along with the SEC, the agency has charged Javice for several alleged crimes, including conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.
According to the agencies, Javice inflated the number of Frank’s customers in order to induce JPMorgan Chase, one of the world’s biggest banks, to buy the company. Javice was the founder and CEO of Frank, which raised over $20 million in venture funding from investors such as VC firm Aleph, founded by Benchmark’s Michael Eisenberg; Marc Rowan, cofounder and CEO of Apollo Global Management; and Reach Capital.
A celebrity defense lawyer
In January 2023, JPMorgan Chase shut down the Frank website shortly after suing Javice in Delaware federal court.
Since April, Javice has been free on a $2 million bond that was secured by her Miami Beach condo and cosigned by her mother and father. In lieu of a curfew, Javice wore the 24-hour GPS location monitoring bracelet, which she claimed posed “an unreasonable burden.”
Javice asked Judge Hellerstein to modify the conditions of her pretrial release and remove the location monitoring, according to the Nov. 7 letter. Fortunately for Javice, Hellerstein was sympathetic to her plight and agreed to remove the 24-hour GPS location monitoring.
Javice wasn’t the only person involved in the case who chafed at the ankle bracelet regime. Olivier Amar, who was Frank’s chief growth officer and is a codefendant in the lawsuit, also asked to get his ankle bracelet removed, and for the court to lift the location requirements, according to a Nov. 27 letter. Hellerstein on Dec. 3 also agreed to remove Amar’s ankle monitor but required that he submit to no less than two in-person check-ins with his pretrial services officer per month.
The Frank fraud case was scheduled to begin in October but then pushed to Feb. 10 after Javice added Jose Baez, a Florida attorney, and Harvard Law professor Ronald Sullivan to her defense team. She also has the celebrity lawyer Alex Spiro on her defense team.
Spiro’s roster of clients includes rapper Jay-Z, Alec Baldwin, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Sullivan was previously part of Harvey Weinstein’s defense team while Baez represented Casey Anthony.
Javice asked for the delay to give Baez and Sullivan more time to familiarize themselves with the case.
Javice’s attorney declined to comment while a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York also declined to comment. Amar’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
