Key Witness Against Javice Says He Pursued Her Romantically (1)

A defense lawyer for startup founder Charlie Javice tried to suggest that a key prosecution witness at her trial for allegedly defrauding JPMorgan Chase & Co. fabricated his testimony because she spurned his romantic overtures.

Patrick Vovor, the former chief engineer at Javice’s student-loan site, Frank, said on the stand last week that he refused her request to create “synthetic” customer data because he thought it might be illegal. Javice, 32, is accused of vastly inflating Frank’s customer numbers to convince JPMorgan to acquire the company for $175 million in 2021.

Charlie Javice arrives at federal court in New York, on Feb. 18.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Under questioning from one of Javice’s lawyers on ...