Discussion

• @ali_lev Alexandra S. Levine on x

  JP Morgan is suing the young founder of Frank, a buzzy fintech startup it acquired for $175M. Frank allegedly lied about its scale and success by creating an enormous list of 4 million fake users to entice JP to buy it. from me and @_IainMartin: https://www.forbes.com/...

• @chrisjbakke Chris Bakke on x

  They should just start preemptively arresting anyone on the Forbes 30 Under 30. https://twitter.com/...

• @kennybauf Ben Kaufman on x

  ladies and gentlement this is one of the greatest things i have ever seen, i cannot imagine a story more tailored for me to tweet about, and so i will now livetweet my reading of this lawsuit https://www.wsj.com/...

• @debarghya_das Deedy on x

  Charlie Javice, Forbes 30u30 and founder of Frank, is getting sued for creating fake data to 15x her startup's users from 300k to 4.5m. Frank-ly appalling.

• @melissakorn Melissa Korn on x

  According to the suit, Frank founder Charlie Javice hired a data science professor to study existing client list and then make up the user info for another few million.

• @intuitmachine Carlos E. Perez on x

  With exponential technology growth, it is increasingly prevalent that software engineers must make ethical decisions! No longer can we wash ourselves of accountability and say the boss told me so. https://twitter.com/...

• @ali_lev Alexandra S. Levine on x

  Congress sounded alarms about Frank well before JP bought it, calling on FTC to investigate. “This tool does not make it any easier for students to get relief funds and appears instead to be a way for Frank to mine and exploit students' data for profit.” https://www.forbes.com/..…

• @ali_lev Alexandra S. Levine on x

  Frank founder Charlie Javice's lofty goals to build the startup into “an Amazon for higher education” won support from billionaire Marc Rowan and prominent venture backers including Aleph, Chegg, Reach Capital, Gingerbread Capital and SWAT Equity Partners: https://www.forbes.com/…

• @melissakorn Melissa Korn on x

  🚨🚨NEW w/ @DaveCBenoit: JPMorgan Chase sues leadership team at Frank, the financial-aid startup it bought for $175M in 2021. Bank alleges the company fabricated lists showing it had 4M+ customers, when it really had just 300K. https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ

• @thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x

  I don't have that antipathy for “30 under 30” type lists. It's cool to recognize up-and-coming types. And a lot of the criticism is just jealousy. But they should get rid of finance categories, as that's an area where both “innovation” and “inexperience” are huge red flags.

• @sub8u @sub8u on x

  Can't make this up. JP Morgan spent $175 million to buy a fintech startup in 2021. The startup apparently claimed to have ~4 Mn users. The bank says they had less than 300K and...just made up the others! https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x

  2023 off to a great start in producing new drama scripts Imagine your defense being you committed fraud in the name of privacy! https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x

  JP Morgan bought student loan startup Frank for $175M in 2021, thinking they had 4M customers. In reality: customers were fake. The big story we should be talking about is how devs at the startup refused to generate fake students... so CEO Charlie Javice had to outsource this. ht…

• @bakerdphd Dominique Baker on x

  This thread tells me that with a few ethical shifts I could be paid to use all these analysis skills to create fake clients for a startup for, what I assume, is beaucoup bucks https://twitter.com/...

• @goldiestandard Goldie Blumenstyk on x

  I'm not sure I have enough 👀👀 on my keyboard for all of this I remember hearing about this company when itwas a darling of the edtech crowd in 2019. Now... a purchase for $175m by a fancy bank...allegations of fabricated users...incriminating emails. Just wow. Cc @erichoov https:…

• @ozard_ofwiz Jim Panzee on x

  due diligence is so boomer https://twitter.com/...

• @johnpaczkowski John Paczkowski on x

  Asked in her 30 Under 30 submission the biggest hurdle the company was facing, Javice said: “Scaling.” 🤪via @Ali_Lev https://www.forbes.com/...

• @healthbjk Brendan Keeler on x

  growth PMs must be stopped https://twitter.com/...

• @janeruffino @janeruffino on x

  Maybe, just maybe, founder worship is a bad idea. Also, as critical as I am, I'm also naive because when I first saw this headline, I assumed “fake” meant she just exaggerated (like, combined social follows and top of funnel registration of interest). Nope https://www.forbes.com/…

• @oliviasolon Olivia Solon on x

  JPMorgan sues startup it bought for fraud for allegedly juicing its customer numbers https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @theashrb Ash on x

  I don't feel sorry for these investors at all... they stay investing in the most mediocre start-ups and don't scrutinise white founders like they do excessively with those of a minority (especially black) background. https://twitter.com/...

• @seamushughes Seamus Hughes on x

  “Javice graduated from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in finance in 2019.” https://www.forbes.com/...

• @gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x

  Full article: https://www.forbes.com/... This is not the first time I hear a software engineer refuse to do what they think could be illegal. It is the right choice to do, every single time. Don't be surprised to learn that something similar could have happened at eg Pollen.

• @goodtweet_man @goodtweet_man on x

  (after spending $125 million to acquire the company and complete the transaction after months of due diligence) hey wait a minute https://twitter.com/...

• @dancow Dan Nguyen on x

  I'm sorry, but I believe JP Morgan has no standing to sue this queen according to the law of LMAO https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @deljohnsonvc Del Johnson on x

  Startup due diligence is literally fake, I tried to tell you smh. https://twitter.com/...

• @sridinats Sridhar Natarajan on x

  This JPMorgan lawsuit is absolutely wild. Bank says it got conned by 30-year-old founder over a $175 million deal. https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...