NEW YORK (RTW News) — Olivier Amar, a leading executive at the financial aid startup Frank, has been sentenced to over five years in prison after his involvement in defrauding JPMorgan Chase during a $175 million acquisition.
The sentencing occurred in Manhattan federal court, just a month after Charlie Javice, the founder of Frank, received a seven-year prison sentence for her role in the same fraudulent scheme. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein emphasized Amar's significant participation in the deception, which involved creating misleading documents that overstated the startup's customer base from fewer than 400,000 to over 4 million.
Although you were not the instigator of the fraud or the person who made the most misrepresentations, you were a key part of it, stated Judge Hellerstein during the sentencing. Both Amar and Javice were found guilty in March for convincing the bank of Frank's inflated customer figures while negotiating the acquisition in the summer of 2021.
Witnesses at the trial revealed that the inflated customer count was essential for JPMorgan, which hoped to integrate these students into its banking services.
Before the sentencing, Amar emotionally expressed the personal toll the scandal had taken on his family, remarking that the pain would haunt me forever. He voiced his sorrow that the company designed to simplify financial aid applications for students is no longer operational. I’m heartbroken by the suffering caused by the aftermath of Frank’s downfall, he said.
In addition to the prison sentence, Amar was ordered to pay $223 million in restitution, which includes $54 million in legal fees tied to the acquisition contract.
