JPMorgan Chase must pay the legal fees of Charlie Javice, the millennial tech CEO whose startup the bank acquired for $175 million and who the bank is now suing for fraud. As The Daily Beast reported, JPMorgan claims in a lawsuit that Javice fabricated user data for her company, Frank Financial Aid, before selling it to the bank. According to the suit, Javice and Frank’s chief growth officer, Olivier Amar, duped JPMorgan into believing their startup had 4 million users when it had fewer than 300,000. Separately, Javice is facing criminal charges in connection to the accusations. On Monday, the Delaware judge presiding over JPMorgan’s civil suit ruled that the bank is obligated to cover Javice’s defense costs in the litigation—and possibly her federal criminal case in the Southern District of New York—because of a 2021 merger agreement between Frank and JPMorgan. Asked for comment, a JPMorgan spokesperson told The Daily Beast: “We continue to focus on the main issue of addressing our fraud claims against Ms. Javice and Mr. Amar through the legal process.” Javice’s legal team declined to comment.
