Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was among the victims of a man sentenced to 11 years in prison after he admitted running what prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors around the country.
U.S. District Judge Zachary Bluestone also ordered Siddharth Jawahar, 38, to repay $31 million in restitution to victims he defrauded from 2016 to 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Jawahar, who federal prosecutors said is undocumented, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in January.
During Jawahar’s sentencing Tuesday, a prosecutor briefly mentioned that Kelce was one of Jawahar’s many high-profile victims, the court reporter who was in the courtroom during the hearing told NBC News.
No further details about how Kelce was victimized were discussed. Representatives for Kelce did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
An attorney for Jawahar declined to comment on the connection to Kelce. He called his client a “very good man” who “made some very serious mistakes and is taking ownership of all of it.”
Jawahar ran a Texas-based investment company called Swiftarc Capital LLC, and prosecutors said he carried out a classic Ponzi scheme, using money from new investors to repay older investors and to fuel an extravagant lifestyle.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, he traveled on private jets, stayed at luxury hotels, went on spending sprees and had memberships at private clubs across the U.S.
From July 2016 to December 2023, his company took in more than $35 million but invested roughly $10 million, the prosecutor’s office said.
After his indictment, the prosecutor’s office said, Jawahar tried to coach a victim to give a favorable statement to authorities and sought to have his sister wipe his iPhone.
Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., asked Bluestone to sentence Jawahar to a maximum of 48 months. In a Sept. 10 letter, Graves cited educational programs that Jawahar helped establish at the jail where he has been in custody and said he “chose accountability, actively cooperating with authorities to streamline and maximize the financial recovery of restitution.”
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Jawahar’s failure to begin repaying his victims was a “major factor” Bluestone cited at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.
