Travis Kelce Named Among Victims Of $35 Million Ponzi Scheme
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been named among the victims of a Ponzi scheme that obtained over $35 million from “unsuspecting investors,” a Missouri prosecutor stated.
Last week, the prosecutor named Kelce in court with 38-year-old Siddharth Jawahar being sentenced to 11 years in prison. The US attorney’s office of the eastern district of Missouri stated that Jawahar pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in US district court in St Louis in January.
Jawahar was also ordered to pay $31.35 million in restitution.
Television station KMOV reported that the prosecutor brought up Kelce’s name without expanding any further, so it is not currently known when Kelce made the investment or how much he spent.
The US attorney’s office reported that Jawahar was running an investment company based in Texas called Swiftarc Capital LLC. In 2015, the company began taking money from investors which he put into a single investment that dropped in value.
He then neglected to notify his investors of the decrease and instead told them the opposite, while also taking money from new investors to repay others.
Jawahar also used the investment money to fund his own “extravagant lifestyle,” with prosecutors citing his private jet trips, luxury living, elegant dining, and memberships in expensive private clubs.
The news release stated that Jawahar was given more than $35 million but only invested around $10 million between July 2016 and December 2023.
Reports also state that Kelce is unlikely to be the only professional athlete involved within the Ponzi scheme.
For example, a Forbes article published in 2021 reported on the growing financial portfolio of NBA guard Gary Harris. The piece gave several comments from Harris regarding his ventures which included investing in the Swiftard Ventures Labs Fund.
Jawahar acted as the co-founder and managing partner with Harris speaking about how much he learned from him. The article also mentioned other investor athletes such as NBA players Tim Hardaway Jr and Mason Plumlee.
Kelce, Hardaway, and Harris all have career earnings over $111 million each, according to reports from Spotrac.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
