Travis Kelce falls prey to ponzi scheme

Indian-origin man pleads guilty, gets 11 years in jail for orchestrating fraud

Deeksha Pandey

Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce was among the victims of a $35 million Ponzi scheme run by Indian-origin investment adviser Siddharth Jawahar, who has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. Jawahar, 38, pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud in the US District Court in St Louis. He was also ordered to pay $31.35 million in restitution to victims.

According to court documents cited by The Associated Press, Jawahar is from India and had been living in the US without legal status since 2005. Kelce’s name was mentioned by a prosecutor in court, according to television station KMOV. Details of when Kelce invested with Jawahar and how much money he invested have not been disclosed.

The crime

Jawahar operated Texas-based investment company Swiftarc Capital LLC, which began accepting investors’ money in 2015. According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, Jawahar eventually consolidated 99 per cent of client funds into a single investment. After the investment declined in value, he did not disclose the losses to investors and instead falsely claimed they were making profits. Jawahar used money from new investors to repay earlier investors, operating the business as a Ponzi scheme.