Business
Startup founder Charlie Javice sentenced to 7 years in prison for defrauding JPMorgan Chase
US businesswoman Charlie Javice (L), founder of Frank, arrives for her sentencing hearing at federal court in Manhattan on Sept. 29, 2025, in New York City.
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images
Charlie Javice, founder of a startup acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2021 for $175 million, was sentenced to just over seven years in prison Monday for defrauding the bank by overstating how many customers the fintech firm had.
In March, a 12-person jury found Javice and her chief growth officer Olivier Amar guilty on three counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit fraud. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 12 years.
Javice, 33, cried as she delivered an emotional statement to the court Monday. Standing to address the judge, Javice said she felt profound remorse for her actions and asked for forgiveness from JPMorgan, employees of the startup, shareholders and investors.
At one point, Javice turned and directly addressed her family, sitting in the front row, to apologize and thank them for what she called unwavering support.
“I will spend my entire life regretting these errors,” Javice said.
“I’m asking with all of my heart for forgiveness,” she said. “I ask your Honor to temper justice with mercy … I will accept your judgment with dignity and humility.”
Judge Alvin Hellerstein told Javice her words were “very moving” and that the way she’s devoted her life is “highly commendable,” but that he couldn’t give her the forgiveness she sought.
“I sentence people not because they’re bad, but because they do bad things,” Hellerstein told Javice before delivering the 85-month prison sentence. “I don’t think you’ll be committing other crimes and that you’ll be devoting your life to service, but others have to be deterred.”
In addition to prison, Javice was sentenced to three years of supervision, along with $22.36 million in forfeiture and $287 million in restitution to JPMorgan. She will remain out on bail while she appeals the ruling.
JPM acquisition
JPMorgan bought the startup, called Frank, to help the biggest U.S. bank by assets market its financial products to students. Frank was a digital platform that helped students apply for financial aid. In September 2021, JPMorgan told CNBC in an exclusive interview on the deal that the fintech firm had served more than five million students since Javice founded it.
But months after the deal closed, JPMorgan discovered that Frank had fewer than 300,000 real customers; the rest were synthetic identities created by Javice with the help of a data scientist.
Javice was arrested in 2023 on charges that she defrauded JPMorgan in the deal. Details that emerged later showed that Frank employees expressed disbelief when Javice directed them to boost their customer roster before the acquisition.
The week before selling her company to JPMorgan, Javice directed an employee to fabricate millions of users. When the employee declined, Javice reassured him, according to testimony given earlier this year.
“She said: ‘Don’t worry. I don’t want to end up in an orange jumpsuit,'” the employee testified.
Not Theranos
On Monday, Javice’s attorney Ronald Sullivan argued for a lighter sentence for his client, making the case that Frank helped customers. He contrasted the case against that of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos infamy, whose fraud he said had “dangerous medical consequences,” and who was sentenced to 135 months in prison.
“Ms. Javice’s sentence should be nowhere near Elizabeth Holmes,'” Sullivan told Judge Hellerstein.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Micah Fergenson disagreed, arguing that Javice’s crime was fueled by greed.
“JPMorgan didn’t get a functioning business, they acquired a crime scene,” Fergenson said.
A courtroom sketch of Charlie Javice at her sentencing at court on Sept. 29, 2025 in New York City.
Elizabeth Williams | CNBC
The episode was embarrassing for JPMorgan, which was thought to be one of the most sophisticated of corporate acquirers. Concerned about threats from fintech and big tech firms, the bank, led by CEO Jamie Dimon, went on a shopping spree of smaller fintech firms starting in 2020.
But JPMorgan, eager to edge out rivals bidding for the startup, failed to confirm that Frank actually had millions of customers before shelling out $175 million for the company.
Business
Nike shares fall 9% on weak outlook, expected 20% sales decline in China
A Nike logo is displayed at a Nike store in Austin, Texas, Feb. 5, 2026.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Shares of Nike fell in extended trading Tuesday after the retailer warned sales will fall for the rest of the calendar year, led by an expected 20% decline in its key China market during the current quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said during the company’s earnings call that Nike expects sales for its current fiscal fourth quarter to drop between 2% and 4%, compared with Wall Street estimates of a 1.9% increase, according to LSEG.
For the duration of the calendar year, Friend said, the company expects sales to fall by a low single-digit percentage, led by growth in North America and offset by declines in China. That outlook wasn’t comparable to estimates.
Nike beat expectations across the business on both the top and bottom lines for its fiscal third quarter, but its guidance left investors with more questions about how long its turnaround will take. Friend also cautioned that Nike’s guidance was based off of where the global economic picture stands today — and it could change given recent geopolitical volatility.
“We also recognize that the environment around us has become increasingly dynamic, and we could experience unplanned volatility due to the disruption in the Middle East, rising oil prices and other factors that could impact either input costs or consumer behavior,” said Friend. “We are focused on what we can control.”
Shares fell more than 8% in extended trading.
Here’s how the world’s largest sneaker company did for its fiscal third quarter, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: 35 cents vs. 28 cents expected
- Revenue: $11.28 billion vs. $11.24 billion expected
The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Feb. 28 was $520 million, or 35 cents per share. That’s a 35% decline from $794 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier. That plunge came as Nike’s gross profit margin slid 1.3 percentage points to 40.2%, “primarily due to higher tariffs in North America,” the company said.
Sales were flat at $11.28 billion, compared to $11.27 billion last year.
While Nike beat expectations on the top and bottom lines, it posted a mixed picture regionally. Nike’s largest market of North America continued to show steady growth, as revenue climbed 3% to $5.03 billion, but that was just shy of Wall Street’s expectations of $5.04 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Meanwhile, Nike’s Greater China market continued to shrink, with revenue down 7% to $1.62 billion during the quarter. Still, that total beat analyst estimates of $1.50 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Nike is continuing to work through a colossal turnaround under CEO Elliott Hill. About a year and a half into his tenure, Hill has made strides in repairing parts of the business, but has been clear that it’ll take time for the entire company to improve given the retailer’s scale and complexity.
He reiterated that expectation on Tuesday, saying in a news release that “the pace of progress is different across the portfolio.”
“The areas we prioritized first continue to drive momentum,” Hill said. “The work is not finished, but the direction is clear, our teams are moving with focus and urgency, and our foundation is getting even stronger to build the future of NIKE.”
Friend said Nike’s turnaround efforts “will continue to impact results over the balance of the calendar year.”
Nike’s recovery was already coming at a tough time as a global trade war dented its efforts to improve profitability and drive sales from inflation-weary shoppers. But now the athletic company will have to contend with a new war in the Middle East that’s already led to rising gas prices and is expected to send consumer prices even higher, which could push shoppers to cut back on nice-to-haves like new clothes and shoes to save money elsewhere.
“We continue to be encouraged by the momentum in North America. We’ve got a strong order book for summer,” Friend said. “We’re seeing positive signs and sell through. We’re not seeing a consumer reaction to what’s going on in the Middle East at this point in time, in North America.”
Hill has focused in part on revitalizing Nike’s business with wholesale partners as opposed to direct sales on its website and in stores. Wholesale revenue climbed 5% to $6.5 billion.
Meanwhile, direct sales slid 4% to $4.5 billion.
Business
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