On Monday, American entrepreneur Charlie Javice was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for deceiving JPMorgan Chase into acquiring her college financial aid startup Frank for $175 million.

In March, the 33-year-old Javice was found guilty on four counts of fraud and conspiracy for falsifying Frank's customer database to make the company's user base appear larger than it actually was.

When announcing the 85-month prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein emphasized that in white-collar criminal cases, sentences serve as particularly important deterrents for others.

Javice's legal team had advocated for an 18-month sentence, while federal prosecutors from the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office had sought a 12-year prison term.

This verdict marks a dramatic fall from grace for Javice, a former rising star in finance who was featured on Forbes' "30 Under 30" entrepreneurs list in 2019.

Speaking tearfully in court, Javice asked for forgiveness from JPMorgan Chase shareholders, her family, Frank's employees, investors, and customers.

"At 28 years old, I did something that went against everything I was raised to believe," Javice said during the hearing at Manhattan federal court. "Not a day goes by that I don't feel deep remorse."

Javice did not plead guilty and is expected to appeal Monday's sentence.

Javice founded Frank in 2017 and gained recognition for simplifying the college financial aid process for students and parents.

JPMorgan Chase acquired Frank in September 2021, but subsequently discovered it could not send emails to most of the customer base Javice had claimed, leading to the conclusion that she had fabricated her customer list.

According to prosecutors, Javice claimed to have 4.25 million customers, but the actual number was less than 300,000. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon later acknowledged that acquiring Frank was a "huge mistake."