American football star Travis Kelce has reportedly been identified in court as one of the victims of a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more than $35 million.
Siddharth Jawahar, 38, the operator of Texas-based investment firm Swiftarc Capital LLC, was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison on Tuesday, September 15, and ordered to pay $31.35 million in restitution.
According to local news outlets KMOV and WENG, prosecutors briefly identified Kelce, a Super Bowl-winning player for the Kansas City Chiefs, as one of the victims during the proceedings. However, they did not disclose how much Kelce allegedly lost or provide further details about his involvement.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri did not mention Kelce in its official statement announcing Jawahar’s sentencing.
A 2021 Forbes report had previously identified Travis Kelce as an investor in the Swiftarc Venture Labs Fund, which was established by a firm co-founded by Jawahar.
Jawahar pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors said he collected more than $35 million from investors in Missouri and other locations between July 2016 and December 2023 but invested only about $10 million.
According to prosecutors, Jawahar used money from newer investors to repay earlier investors while financing what they described as an “extravagant lifestyle”.
His spending reportedly included private jet travel, luxury hotels, apartments in Austin and New York City, private club memberships, clothing and expensive restaurant outings.
Prosecutors said Jawahar began investing clients’ funds in Philip Morris Pakistan in 2015 and eventually concentrated about 99 per cent of the funds in the company’s stock.
When the stock declined in value, he allegedly concealed the losses and falsely told investors they were making profits. He was also accused of claiming to have invested clients’ money in specific companies when he had not done so.
Following his indictment, prosecutors said Jawahar attempted to coach a victim into providing a favourable statement to the FBI and sought his sister’s assistance in remotely wiping his iPhone to conceal evidence.
He was also accused of lying about his immigration status.
U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone highlighted the scale and duration of the fraud while imposing the 11-year sentence.
The judge also echoed a victim’s statement that Jawahar had “weaponized” investors’ trust and noted that he had not begun repaying the victims.
