A former sealed court in Delaware FILING released Monday offers the most detailed picture of JPMorgan’s acquisition of Javice, who convicted in March of defrauding the largest US bank in a $175 million deal, abused a 2023 order need it to cover the costs of his defense.

JPMorgan is seeking to avoid $10.2 million in disputed lawsuits and end the requirement that it pay future bills. Attorneys at Javice’s five law firms billed unnecessary work and inappropriate expenses under the assumption that “someone else was paying his bills,” according to the filing.

The dispute raises the question of how much is too much for a top-flight criminal defense. Javice’s expenses are higher than the $30 million in fees the founder of Theranos Inc. has collected. that Elizabeth Holmes in his defense.

The bank focused most of its criticism on Javice’s two largest firms, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, which it said “has already received tens of millions, and is seeking millions more for unreasonable fees and expenses that constitute clear abuse.”

JPMorgan said it had “substantially resolved” the charges through July at Javice’s other companies, including one for his planned appeal.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Quinn Emanuel said, “JPMorgan is attempting to waive its contractual obligation to pay the remainder of Ms. Mintz’s legal fees. Mintz did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment.

The two major firms had already charged more than $22 million in the criminal case by August 2024, when Javice hired two smaller firms to defend him in the upcoming trial, giving “no explanation” why Quinn Emanuel and Mintz Levin could not serve as lead trial counsel.

Quinn Emanuel’s fee “skyrocketed” after it told the court before the trial that it expected to transfer its responsibilities to Mintz, JPMorgan argued. And Mintz Levin’s lawyers were “peripheral and unnecessary, even during the trial,” the bank said.

JPMorgan said Javice had 16 to 29 attorneys and other legal professionals in court for each day of his trial, charging an average of $360,000 per day during the six-week trial. There are no more than four lawyers with speaking roles, and many of the fees are for “trial attendance only,” JPMorgan said. “Javice’s counsel even improperly billed for ‘attendance’ at trial on non-trial days.”

According to the bank, the lawyers attending the trial charged a lot of inappropriate costs, the bank said. Among the 2,377 pages of receipts submitted for March were a Cookie Monster baby toy, lavender and jasmine sachets, 57 hotel room upgrades for $300 per night and $900 in meals at Kolomnaa highly rated New York restaurant, JPMorgan said.

A New York jury found Javice guilty of misleading JPMorgan to acquire his student finance startup, Frank, by creating millions of fake users for the site. He is sentenced in September up to seven years in prison but free on bail pending his appeal.

As part of his sentence, Javice was ordered to pay legal fees covered by JPMorgan. But even if that order is upheld, the bank is unlikely to recover more than a fraction of the total amount. Javice is only required to pay 10% of his income as restitution after he is released from prison, and the order expires in 20 years.

The case is Javice v. JPMorgan, 2022-1179, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).