Charlie Javice is trying to ditch her GPS ankle bracelet again.
Loading audio narration…
Javice has been free on $2 million bail since March 2025, when a federal jury in Manhattan found she used wildly inflated data to trick JPMorgan Chase into buying her student financial aid platform, Frank, for $175 million.
The Miami resident has worn an ankle monitor since then as an appeal delays her seven-year fraud sentence.
Defense lawyers have argued since 2024 that the ankle bracelet impacts her health and makes it difficult for Javice to work as a Pilates instructor. Her judge approved the bracelet’s removal later that year, but ordered it back on last March, after her conviction.
This latest bid to be sprung from monitoring doesn’t mention Pilates. Instead, it vaguely references “health matters” and cites her perfect compliance with the court and probation officers while out on bail.
But she’ll have to fight federal prosecutors, who want the ankle monitor to stay put as she seeks to overturn her March 2025 fraud verdict.
Her dual US-France citizenship has been a sticking point for prosecutors. During bail arguments and at sentencing, they said the US does not have an extradition agreement with France, should she flee there.
“The Government has indicated its opposition to this application,” Javice’s lawyer wrote in asking this week for the bracelet’s removal.
This latest ankle monitor battle may drag on for another three weeks or more: On Wednesday, US District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who presided over her Manhattan trial, gave prosecutors until May 19 to file their response.
“In the immediate aftermath of the verdict and the approach of sentencing, Ms. Javice was confronting pressing personal and health matters that required her immediate attention, and she focused on those issues,” Javice’s attorney, Ronald Sullivan, wrote the judge in asking this week for the bracelet’s removal.
“Accordingly, she has endured the GPS ankle monitor for more than a year,” Sullivan wrote.
Javice’s Florida probation officer now supports the bracelet’s removal, and the judge himself noted at sentencing that “I am convinced that she will not flee, that her life is here,” Sullivan argued, quoting Hellerstein.
“That was seven months ago,” Sullivan added. “Since then, Ms. Javice has remained in full compliance with every condition of her release.”
The Frank platform helped students fill out federal financial aid applications. During acquisition negotiations, Javice claimed Frank had 4 million Gen Z users — college-ready young adults the bank hoped to pitch for credit cards and checking accounts.
Javice was a Forbes 30-under-30 honoree at the time, and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon had taken a 30-minute meeting with the young entrepreneur during negotiations for the purchase.
In fact, Frank’s user base never exceeded 300,000, something missed by some 300 of the bank’s in-house diligence officers who had vetted the acquisition.
“Audacious, multi-faceted, fueled by greed,” prosecutor Micah Festa Fergenson called the fraud during sentencing.
Since her conviction, Hellerstein has denied a motion by Javice and Frank cofounder Olivier Amar for a new trial. She remains embroiled in a battle with JPMorgan over more than $78 million in legal bills, which Javice says the bank is contractually obligated to pay.
