Forbes Comes Under Heavy Criticism as Under 30 Alumni Gets Arrested For Fraud Scams

Global media company that focuses on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle, Forbes, has come under heavy criticism as one of its 30 under 30 alumni Charlie Javice gets arrested for fraud scams.

Charlie who is the founder of startup “Frank”, a student loan software company, was apprehended by the U.S. authorities in New Jersey on Monday, for engaging in a brazen scheme to defraud financial services company JP Morgan Chase in the course of a $175 million acquisition deal.

Charlie marketed her startup as a platform that supports students trying to get educational loans and claimed to simplify the application process for users. She described the startup as an Amazon for higher education which saw JP Morgan Chase acquire the company for $175 million in 2021 also hiring some of the startup employees.

Soon after, JP Morgan Chase filed a lawsuit against Charlie in the US District Court in Delaware, arguing that her claim of having a user base of 4million was incorrect, also noting that she manipulated the figures. Furthermore, JPMC alleged that she tried to cover up the issue by asking a vendor to delete the fake list.

In her defense, she filed a counterclaim against JP Morgan Chase, accusing the financial services company of compromising her reputation and withholding $28 million of retention payments and equity in February 2023.

Reports reveal that before JP Morgan filed a lawsuit, Charlie had already sued the bank after she alleged that she was the whistleblower on the whole ordeal after she was owed millions of dollars for expenses incurred while defending herself against internal investigations that began last spring.

She will however face a four counts of charges. They are one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, one count of bank fraud, and one count of securities fraud. Three of the charges each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. 

Charlie Javice whom Forbes named a rising star in its “30 under 30” issue in 2019, joins the likes of other Forbes under 30 alumni such as Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, Sam Bankman Fried of FTX, and Invictus Obi of Invictus Group that have all been convicted of fraud cases.

Following the recurrent cases of Forbes alumni being convicted of fraud cases, a lot of people have said the global media company has lost its credibility. According to findings by Investors King, so many users have expressed disappointment at Forbes for its recurring faulty list.

On twitter, a user @RGA wrote, “At this point, the Forbes 30 under 30 is less of an honor and more of a wanted list.

@BobbyBigWheel wrote, “The Forbes 30 under 30 list might as well be the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted”

@OsasDapheel wrote, “Most Forbes 30 under 30 are always linked with one fraud or the other. Is the universe telling us something there?”

Several other users have disclosed that Forbes 30 under 30 lists is being paid for, hence it is no longer a badge of honor, as being a part of the list isn’t as elegant as it once was.