Travis Kelce has been named as one of the victims in a Ponzi scheme case that ended Tuesday with Siddharth Jawahar being sentenced to 11 years in prison in St. Louis.
U.S. District Judge Zachary M.
Bluestone also ordered Jawahar, 38, to pay $31.35 million to investors, according to KMOV-TV. Prosecutors identified Kelce as a victim during the sentencing hearing, though they did not say how much the Chiefs tight end lost.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, Jawahar ran a Texas-based investment company called Swiftarc Capital LLC. The office said he began investing client money in Philip Morris Pakistan (PMP) in 2015, and that 99% of client funds were eventually consolidated into PMP.
The government said Jawahar hid the falling value of PMP from investors and kept telling them they were making money. He also allegedly misled them about where their money was going, claiming he had invested it in specific companies when he had not.
“From about July 2016 through December 2023, Jawahar took in more than $35 million from Swiftarc investors but invested only about $10 million.”
The release said Jawahar used more than a dozen entities in the scheme, including Swiftarc Venture Labs Fund GP LLC. A 2021 Forbes article said Kelce was an investor in that fund, along with NBA players Tim Hardaway Jr. and Detroit Pistons center Mason Plumlee.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Jawahar used money from new investors to pay older investors and support a lavish lifestyle that included private jets, luxury hotels, an apartment in Austin and New York City, memberships at multiple private clubs across the country, shopping sprees and expensive restaurant outings.
The release also identified Jawahar as an illegal immigrant and said he pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in January.
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