The former chief growth officer of college financial-planning startup Frank was indicted by federal prosecutors for allegedly helping founder Charlie Javice defraud JPMorgan Chase & Co. in its $175 million acquisition of the company.
(Bloomberg) — The former chief growth officer of college financial-planning startup Frank was indicted by federal prosecutors for allegedly helping founder Charlie Javice defraud JPMorgan Chase & Co. in its $175 million acquisition of the company.
Olivier Amar was added to the case Wednesday in a superseding indictment filed in Manhattan federal court. He was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and securities fraud.
Amar, 49, of Port Washington, New York, intends to surrender on the charges Thursday morning and attend a conference in the case before US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, a spokesperson for Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said.
Javice, 31, who was charged in April and has pleaded not guilty, will also appear in court Thursday. Both she and Amar were previously sued for fraud by JPMorgan, and his initial omission from the criminal case against Javice raised the possibility that he might be cooperating with prosecutors. Amar on Wednesday was also added to the fraud suit filed against Javice in April by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Steven Kobre and Sean Buckley, lawyers for Amar, didn’t respond to phone messages and emails seeking comment. Alex Spiro, an attorney for Javice, declined to comment.
Read More: JPMorgan Claims It Was Defrauded in $175 Million Acquisition
Javice and Amar each face as much as 30 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges against them.
All of the cases allege Amar and Javice hired a data science professor to create fake customer accounts showing Frank had some 4.25 million users, even though they knew it had fewer than 300,000. According to the SEC, Javice and Amar also created a list of real names that could be falsely passed off as Frank customers in case that didn’t work. Amar allegedly arranged a $105,000 payment to a marketing firm for use of its college student data.
Javice and Amar together reaped some $26 million from the deal, according to JPMorgan’s suit. Amar received about $5 million from the merger and earned a $3 million retention bonus by becoming a JPMorgan employee after the purchase, according to the SEC.
Lawyers for Javice, who is free on a $2 million bond, have claimed JPMorgan raised the fraud allegations as part of an effort to “retrade the deal.”
Motion to Dismiss
Amar has sought to dismiss JPMorgan’s suit, saying that he was not a party to the merger agreement, attended only one meeting with the bank and “legitimately acquired” a data set that is not alleged to have been used in the negotiation of the 2021 deal.
JPMorgan has been “throwing in Mr. Amar’s name when convenient despite knowing that Mr. Amar was not involved in either the alleged misconduct or any statements, representations, or warranties made to JPMC during the merger,” Amar’s lawyers said in a March court filing.
A federal judge in Delaware in May ordered JPMorgan to pay the legal bills for Javice and Amar because they were bank employees following the buyout.
JPMorgan shut down the Frank site in January.
The case is US v Javice, 23-cr-251, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
–With assistance from Bob Van Voris.
(Updates with SEC suit, Amar’s plans to surrender in second paragraph.)
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