Charlie Javice, convicted of defrauding JPMorgan Chase out of $175 million in the sale of her startup Frank, is quietly seeking a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
Key Points:
- Javice was sentenced to 85 months for inflating Frank's customer numbers ahead of the JPMorgan sale.
- Her camp has courted Trump allies, yet her name is absent from the Justice Department's clemency list.
- The bid lands as the administration weighs roughly 250 pardons tied to the nation's 250th birthday.
Javice Courts Trump Allies
Javice has quietly approached people close to the president, hoping to build support for clemency, according to a report that emerged Sunday. Her name has not yet surfaced on the Justice Department's formal clemency list. A spokeswoman declined to comment.
The bid arrives at a crowded moment for the pardon office.
The administration is weighing roughly 250 acts of clemency this summer to mark the country's 250th birthday, and white-collar petitions keep stacking up. Former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried sits among the hopefuls.
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JPMorgan's Awkward Spot
The request puts JPMorgan in a bind.
The bank was the victim here, yet it has feuded with Trump for years. It cut ties with accounts linked to him after the January 6 Capitol riot, a move he later branded political "debanking." Trump has since sued the bank and chief executive Jamie Dimon for $5 billion.
Javice is not short on powerful friends. Marc Rowan, co-founder of Apollo Global Management and an early Frank backer, testified for her at trial and pressed the judge for leniency.
A Manhattan jury convicted Javice last September of conspiracy and three fraud counts, and the court handed her 85 months. Prosecutors said she claimed Frank had 4.25 million users when the true figure neared 300,000. She is appealing, a separate SEC case is pending, and the bank is contesting legal bills that have topped $115 million.
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