Ex-startup founder and JPMorgan Chase investee Charlie Javice was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in jail for defrauding the financial giant by allegedly lying about her fintech app's customer base.

In March, a 12-person jury found Charlie Javice (pictured June 2023 in NYC) guilty on three counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit for allegedly overstating the number of customers. Photo by Justin Lane/EPA UPI

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Ex-startup founder and JPMorgan Chase investee Charlie Javice was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in jail for defrauding the financial giant by allegedly lying about her fintech app's customer base.

A 12-person jury in March found Javice, 33, guilty on three counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit for allegedly overstating the number of customers.

Javice founded the now-defunct fintech student loan assistance company Frank in 2017 that JPM later acquired in 2021 in a $175 million deal.

She allegedly paid a data science professor to manufacture data to make it appear that Frank had more than 4 million customers, according to the SEC.

Meanwhile, the prosecution sought a 12-year sentence.

Javice told family and those in attendance in court that she will "spend my entire life regretting these errors" as she asked Judge Alvin Hellerstein to "temper justice with mercy," but would accept judgment "with dignity and humility."

Hellerstein said her words were "very moving" and commended her, but stated before handing down the 85-month jail sentence that "I sentence people not because they're bad, but because they do bad things."

"I don't think you'll be committing other crimes and that you'll be devoting your life to service, but others have to be deterred," the judge added.