Frank founder Charlie Javice said she moved millions of dollars out of JPMorgan Chase & Co. accounts after the bank fired her and accused her of fraud but then wound up getting caught up in the collapse of Signature Bank.
(Bloomberg) — Frank founder Charlie Javice said she moved millions of dollars out of JPMorgan Chase & Co. accounts after the bank fired her and accused her of fraud but then wound up getting caught up in the collapse of Signature Bank.
Javice, whose college-finance site JPMorgan acquired for $175 million in 2021, said in a Friday court filing in Delaware federal court she moved her money to Signature in September 2022. JPMorgan had put her on administrative leave days earlier and would later sue her for fraud, claiming she vastly inflated the number of Frank customers during acquisition negotiations.
“As it happened, that timing was ill-fated,” Javice’s lawyer said of her transfers to Signature. “To the surprise of even the most seasoned players in the banking industry, on or about March 10, depositors at Signature Bank began a ‘run’ on the bank, thereby increasing the fear and likelihood of what did indeed result: the third largest bank failure in U.S. history.”
Javice disclosed her bank-run experience in response to a demand by JPMorgan for information about three Nevada shell companies which held the Signature accounts.
She said she managed to withdraw her money from Signature and moved it to other “major domestic institutions.” But her accounts were seized earlier this month by federal prosecutors who charged her with defrauding JPMorgan.
JPMorgan had suggested in a previous filing that Javice was trying to hide assets in her Nevada shell companies, but she responded on Friday that the government seizure vitiated any such concern.
“Whatever argument JPMC might have had for discovery to prevent asset dissipation is now moot,” Javice said.
JPMorgan declined to comment on Monday.
Javice, who is free on a $2 million bond, has not yet responded in court to the criminal charges or the SEC suit. She’s denied JPMorgan’s claims in its Delaware fraud case and is counter-suing.
On Friday, Javice said her transfers were reasonable in light of JPMorgan’s actions against her. She said “she no longer wanted to bank with an entity that was retaliating against her and baselessly accusing her of severe misdeeds.”
The case is JPMorgan Chase Bank v. Javice, 22-cv-01621, US District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington)
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