Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was revealed as one of the victims in a massive investment fraud case after a Texas-based man was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for running a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of tens of millions of dollars.
Siddharth Jawahar, 38, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Zachary Bluestone in the Eastern District of Missouri. Jawahar was also ordered to repay $31 million in restitution to the numerous investors he defrauded between 2016 and 2023.
A prosecutor briefly disclosed during the sentencing hearing that Kelce was among the high-profile victims targeted by Jawahar. No additional details about the nature or extent of Kelce’s financial losses were presented in court and representatives for the NFL star have not publicly responded to requests for comment.
Jawahar operated a Texas-based investment firm called Swiftarc Capital LLC. Federal prosecutors say he ran a textbook Ponzi scheme, funneling money from newer investors to pay off earlier ones while spending lavishly on private jet travel, luxury hotels, high-end shopping and exclusive private club memberships across the country.
Court records show the company collected more than $35 million from investors over roughly seven years but only put approximately $10 million into actual investments. Jawahar, who federal prosecutors identified as undocumented, pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud.
Prosecutors also accused Jawahar of attempting to obstruct justice after his indictment by coaching a victim to provide favorable statements to authorities and allegedly asking his sister to erase data from his iPhone.
Despite a letter from Republican Missouri Congressman Sam Graves urging the judge to cap the sentence at 48 months citing Jawahar’s cooperation and jail-based educational initiatives the court handed down a far stiffer penalty. Judge Bluestone cited Jawahar’s failure to begin making any restitution payments to victims as a significant factor in the harsher sentence.
Defense attorney for Jawahar declined to address the Kelce connection but described his client as a man who made serious mistakes and is now accepting full responsibility for his actions.