Frank Founder Charlie Javice’s Attorneys Say US Has Seized Her Assets

Frank founder Charlie Javice’s attorneys said she can’t hide assets because they’ve been seized.

The attorneys said this in a Friday (April 21) court filing in response to JPMorgan Chase’s (JPMC’s) request that they be allowed to question Javice under oath about transfers of millions of dollars.

The assets were seized around April 7, when JPMorgan Chase filed a motion to question Javice.

“Around the same time, the United States seized Ms. Javice’s assets and has blocked her from access to her accounts — the same assets that JPMC now suggests are at risk of dissipation,” Javice’s attorneys said in the filing. “The seizure warrants for accounts and assets under Ms. Javice’s control are currently under seal.”

JPMorgan Chase has brought a lawsuit against Javice in January, saying that she and another Frank executive inflated the number of customers who were using Frank, which was a college financial planning platform, thereby defrauding the bank when it bought the platform.

The bank said in its lawsuit that it made the $175 million acquisition believing that Frank had about 4.3 million customers but later learned that the platform had only about 300,000 customers.

Lawyers for Javice said in response to the lawsuit that JPMorgan Chase didn’t perform due diligence, rushed into the deal and launched its internal investigation of the deal in order to fire her and deny her a retention bonus.

On April 13, it was reported that JPMorgan Chase had asked a judge for permission to question Javice under oath about transfers of money to a company she allegedly set up.

The bank said in an April 11 court filing that the transfers took place shortly after JPMorgan discovered the alleged fraud and that the corporation to which she transferred the money is in a state — Nevada — that is often used by individuals who want to hide their ownership information.

In Friday’s filing, Javice’s attorneys say that “whatever argument JPMC might have had for discovery to prevent asset dissipation is now moot. Shortly after the motion was filed the United States seized or froze Ms. Javice’s assets, mooting all concerns JPMC raised in its motion.”