Creativity comes in great numbers
The Forbes “30 under 30” darling Charlie Javice (surname spelled “Javic” in a Nov 13, 2018 article), was hailed as “one of the few women” able to make it to the “Big Money Startup” list. Whatever “due diligence” Forbes took part in, failed to discover or at the very least disclose the questionable nature of this Wharton School graduate:
One of the few women to crack the Big Money Startups list is 26-year-old Charlie Javic. She founded Frank, a financial services company streamlining the process of locating and applying for financial aid. The University of Pennsylvania graduate has raised $16 million from Aleph, Slow Ventures and Apollo Global Management. The company estimates that it has assisted over 300,000 students access $7 billion in aid.
Where did the 300,000 students come from? Hard to say, but it was only after three years had passed before anyone in the legacy media or the financial experts in Wall Street would start raising questions. It was when the business savvy folks at JP Morgan actually tried to send out emails to a batch of 400,000 email addresses (of course after already purchasing Javice’s company) and 70% of them bouncing back did JP Morgan finally get their “eureka!” moment. According to the press release from the SEC, prior to the sale, JP Morgan requested proof of the number of clients. Not being born yesterday, it seems as if JP Morgan’s crew weren’t willing to just take the “Forbes 30 under 30” darling’s word for it. Charlie Javice allegedly used a data scientist to inflate her client list to 4.25 million students as part of the alleged swindle, when Frank’s Director of engineering refused to fabricate the data. This apparently fraudulent list was then accepted as valid by JP Morgan, and the $175 million sale was finalized.
Javice’s apparent creativity in producing 4.25 million “clients”, wasn’t her only feat. Even as far back as 2011, she made it to be #99 on Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business 2011”
Charlie also was honored by the business experts at Crain’s New York in their
“40 under 40” list, featuring her as a shining star helping low income students, as well as those who have been in prison.
Javice has done her homework. Frank doesn’t focus on the Ivy League borrower, as many loan-refinance startups do. Indeed, many users are lower income, and some have spent time in prison. Javice supports online education, which is largely used by minority and lower-income students and, she says, unfairly demonized.
From Crain’s New York “40 under 40” list in 2019
It’s quite unfortunate that someone hasn’t created a company like Frank to help people like Charlie Javice in case she ends up in prison. Maybe it would have been more beneficial to Charlie if she had received an online education, rather than learning her business skills at the Wharton School.
Wharton School Alumni
It is typical for establishment schools, maybe even Ivy league colleges like the Wharton School, to screen applicants for good character, public service, and community engagement. Those who must work part-time jobs while in High School, take care of younger siblings, or opt to spend their time at home developing their scientific or creative skills could be at a disadvantage or be seen as less desirable candidates. Besides being the daughter of a Hedge Fund manager, Charlie’s resume in community service could have potentially boosted her chances of getting accepted at the Wharton School where she studied finance and law, yet this public service did not translate into an alumni of good character (if the allegations of fraud turn out to be true).
Had Charlie Javice developed a cure for a horrible disease, The Wharton School would likely take at least partial credit for helping to mold her into an accomplished alumni. Yet, for some reason, it seems doubtful they will be as eager to promote her today as they once did in an article by the Wharton Global Youth program while she attended Wharton.
Previous Allegations
In 2017 Charlie Javice and Frank were ordered by an Israeli court to pay former CTO and Co-founder Adi Omesy 120,00 Israeli shekel ($35,000) in unpaid wages.
Also in 2017, The US Department of Education issued a “cease and desist” letter, and accused Frank of infringing upon the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) trademark with the website “frankfafsa.com” which was alleged to cause confusion among students with social media posts referring to the form as “Frank’s FAFSA”. Frank was not affiliated with the FAFSA nor with the US Department of Education. Frank settled with the Department of Education in 2018.
Surprised? FRANK-ly not at all
With so much hype about “genius” “entrepreneurs” such as Sam Bankman-Fried (son of Stanford law professors Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman), Caroline Ellison (daughter of MIT economics professors Glenn and Sara Fisher Ellison), and most recently Charlie Javice (daughter of Hedge Fund manager Didier Javice), FRANK-ly nobody should be surprised (if these allegations are true), how the well-connected easily have access to capital for enriching themselves at the detriment to the rest of society. Charlie Javice went out on a $2 million bail, able to stroll Miami Beach as she endeavors out of her $1.4 million Miami condominium while students and grads worry how to pay their loans.
