JPMorgan Chase & Co is reported to have shut down its Frank website, a college financial. The bank also sued its founder and another executive for creating nearly 4 million fake customer accounts.
In a lawsuit, the bank said it bought the startup Frank, a website meant to help students seek out options for financial aid, for $175 million in 2021. JPMorgan’s suit accused Frank’s founder Charlie Javice and its former chief growth officer Olivier Amar of forging customer accounts.
The bank alleged that Olivier Amar helped Charlie Javice by buying a list of students from a marketing firm for $105,000. The pair used that list to make the inflated user numbers seem credible. The bank claimed that the startup provided the false user numbers while it was conducting due diligence when looking into acquiring the company.
However, in December last year, Charlie Javice herself sued JPMorgan, for allegedly conducting “groundless” inquiries and pushed her out in November. Her lawsuit stated that it was JPMorgan that “mismanaged” Frank’s business after acquiring it, rejecting her input and then attacking her with “overzealous internal investigations”.
