Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce was named as a victim of a $35 million Ponzi scheme during the sentencing of investment adviser Siddharth Jawahar in St Louis.
A federal judge sentenced Jawahar, 38, to 11 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud. It remains unclear how much money, if any, Kelce lost.
Prosecutors did not provide details of Kelce’s connection to the case, citing a policy of not discussing individual victims. Jawahar was sentenced in the Eastern District of Missouri after admitting that he had defrauded investors through his firm, Swiftarc Capital.
Court records show that Jawahar told clients he was investing their money in a range of companies. In reality, almost all of the funds were placed in a single overseas company, Philip Morris Pakistan, with as much as 99 per cent invested there at one point.
When that investment collapsed in value, Jawahar allegedly concealed the losses and continued telling investors that their money was generating strong returns. When clients sought their money back, he used funds from newer investors to pay them.
The scheme brought in $35,607,984.16, according to court records, although only about $10 million was ever invested. In one example cited in his plea agreement, Jawahar told two investors in 2018 that Swiftarc was putting $525,000 into a company, despite not investing any money.
Prosecutors said Jawahar used the proceeds for private jets, luxury hotels and memberships at clubs including Zero Bond, Soho House and Casa Cipriani in New York. The spending also included a $164,000 New York flat and a $363,280 apartment in Austin.
In an interview with the FBI, Jawahar said he had acted out of “greed”. Prosecutors later accused him of contradicting that account in his sentencing documents, where he argued that greed had not been his motive.
After his arrest, prosecutors said Jawahar attempted to interfere with the investigation. Court filings describe a recorded jail call in which he told a victim due to speak to the FBI to “be dedicated”, which the victim understood as pressure not to provide information.
Prosecutors also allege that Jawahar asked his sister to wipe his phone remotely and lied to pre-trial officers about his finances and immigration status. They further say he hired a political consultancy to seek favourable media coverage and support letters before sentencing.
A contract filed with the court described plans to target an article at the sentencing judge and pay to “geofence his house” with advertisements. When the consultant suggested the strategy might appear “overly calculated”, Jawahar replied: “which of course it is.”
Jawahar owes his victims $31.35 million in restitution and has not paid any of it, prosecutors said. They cited another recorded call in which he allegedly said that “restitution never gets paid” and would eventually “get commuted”.
