Charlie Javice, the convicted founder of the college financial-aid startup Frank, is quietly seeking a presidential pardon from the Trump administration, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Javice was found guilty last September of fabricating millions of customer accounts to inflate Frank’s value before selling the company to JPMorgan Chase for $175 million. She is currently serving a sentence of more than seven years and is appealing the conviction.
According to the Journal, Javice’s camp has been courting people close to the Trump administration, though her name has not yet appeared on a formal clemency request list at the Justice Department. That list is growing rapidly as the administration reportedly weighs issuing roughly 250 pardons this summer to mark America’s 250th birthday. A wave of clemency requests has poured in from other white-collar defendants, including former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
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JPMorgan’s complicated position
The pardon effort places JPMorgan in an awkward position. The bank was the victim of Javice’s fraud, but it also has a fraught relationship with President Trump. In early 2021, JPMorgan closed accounts tied to Trump and his businesses shortly after the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump has since characterized that move as political “debanking” and sued JPMorgan and CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 billion. The bank has denied any political motive.
JPMorgan has not commented publicly on the pardon reports. The bank declined to answer questions from TechCrunch for this story.
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Powerful allies in Javice’s corner
Javice does not lack for influential supporters. Apollo Global Management co-founder Marc Rowan, an early investor in Frank, testified on her behalf at trial. Rowan has donated to Trump’s campaigns and, since Trump’s reelection, has contributed millions more to Republican congressional groups.
The involvement of figures like Rowan could give Javice’s pardon bid more traction than it might otherwise have, though the political calculus remains uncertain. The Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney typically vets clemency requests before they reach the president’s desk, and a conviction for fraud involving a major financial institution would ordinarily face significant scrutiny.
For now, Javice’s appeal proceeds through the federal courts, and her name remains absent from the formal clemency list. But the summer pardon wave is still weeks away, and the list is not yet final.
