JPMorgan challenges order requiring it to pay Charlie Javice’s legal bill

JPMorgan wants to no longer pay Charlie Javice’s legal fees.

A clause in JPMorgan’s contract with Javice, tied to the initial sale of his startup, Frank, held the bank responsible for his legal fees — even after Javice was convicted in March of conspiracy, wire and bank fraud for tricking JPMorgan into buying the company for $175 million.

As Javice continues to appeal the guilty verdict before coming forward his sentence of 7 years in prison, JPMorgan had to pay more than $115 million in legal fees to Javice and his co-defendant, Olivier Amar. In a filing Friday, JPMorgan’s lawyers asked the court to end their obligation to continue making the payments.

“The legal fees claimed by Charlie Javice and Olivier Amar are blatantly excessive and egregious,” Pablo Rodriguez, a spokesperson for JPMorgan, told Business Insider in a statement. “We look forward to sharing the details of this abuse with the court in the coming weeks.”

Lawyers representing Javice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

JPMorgan advanced Javice $60.1 million for his criminal defense, “which represents an unprecedented and shocking amount that exceeds any semblance of reasonableness,” the bank’s lawyers argued.

Additionally, the filing says Javice “unreasonably” hired five different law firms for his defense — including a single firm that JPMorgan says received advance fees and expenses totaling $35.6 million — “even though five law firms working on a single matter are necessarily overlapping, duplicative, and excessive.”

The bank’s lawyers say JPMorgan will be irreparably harmed unless the court puts an end to “excessive billing” practices in which Javice and his legal team treated the advancement process as “a blank check to charge and spend whatever they want.”

Among Javice’s legal team in his defense was Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel, who has represented clients such as Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian. Business Insider previously reported that Spiro’s hourly rate had nearly doubled over the past four years, as he now made $3,000 an hour for his work.