NEW YORK, March xx (Reuters) - Entrepreneur Charlie

Javice was convicted on Friday of defrauding JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )

into buying her college financial aid startup Frank for

$175 million in July 2021.

The verdict followed a five-week trial in Manhattan federal

court before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein.

Javice studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton

School and appeared on Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30" list in

2019, drawing media praise for simplifying college financial aid

for students and parents.

But JPMorgan ( JPM ) sued her in December 2022 for lying about

Frank's customer base, and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office

charged her four months later with securities fraud, wire fraud,

bank fraud and conspiracy.

Prosecutors accused Javice of falsely assuring the largest

U.S. bank that Frank had 4.25 million customers, not the 300,000

it actually had.

JPMorgan ( JPM ) discovered the inflated number when it tried to

contact customers it believed were real to sell products, and

received far fewer responses than expected, prosecutors said.

Javice, a Florida resident, pleaded not guilty. She did not

testify at trial.

Her lawyer, Jose Baez, said JPMorgan ( JPM ) performed extensive due

diligence and knew how many clients Frank had before completing

the purchase, but complained due to "buyer's remorse."

Baez said JPMorgan ( JPM ) claimed it was hoodwinked only when the

bank wanted to get out of its contract with Frank because

financial aid regulations changed, and that fraud was the only

condition that allowed it to back out.

Frank was founded in 2017. JPMorgan ( JPM ) CEO Jamie Dimon has

called the Frank acquisition a "huge mistake."

Javice's co-defendant, Olivier Amar, who was Frank's chief

growth officer, was also convicted on fraud and conspiracy

charges.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Rushmi Bhaskaran said

Amar bought "sham lists" of student data from third parties,

which he and Javice could pass off as customers to JPMorgan ( JPM ).

"It was through their lies that they became

multimillionaires," Bhaskaran said.