Travis Kelce named a victim in Ponzi scheme sentencing
Prosecutors identified the Chiefs tight end as a victim as Siddharth Jawahar received 11 years for wire fraud.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
2 min read
The Travis Kelce Ponzi scheme case has produced one clear update and several unanswered questions: prosecutors identified the Kansas City Chiefs tight end as a victim when Siddharth Jawahar was sentenced in Missouri.
NBC News and First Alert 4 reported that Kelce’s name was mentioned briefly during Jawahar’s Sept. 15 sentencing. Neither outlet reported a public explanation of how Kelce was affected, how much he may have invested or whether he lost a particular amount.
U.S. District Judge Zachary Bluestone sentenced Jawahar, 38, to 11 years in prison, according to NBC News. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Jawahar was also ordered to pay more than $31 million in restitution to people he defrauded between 2016 and 2023.
Jawahar pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud, NBC News reported. His attorney declined to discuss the connection to Kelce, while saying Jawahar was taking responsibility for serious mistakes. Kelce’s representatives did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
What do we know about Travis Kelce’s connection to the scheme?
The public account remains limited. First Alert 4 reported that a 2021 Forbes article listed Kelce as an investor in a fund created by Swiftarc, an investment company co-founded by Jawahar. That reported investment link does not establish Kelce’s loss amount or spell out the precise route by which he became a victim in the criminal case.
Kelce has not been accused of wrongdoing. Prosecutors identified him as a victim, and the courtroom reporting did not add Kelce-specific details.
How prosecutors said the investment operation worked
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as reported by NBC News, Jawahar ran the Texas-based firm Swiftarc Capital LLC. Prosecutors described the operation as a Ponzi scheme, a fraud in which money from newer investors is used to make payments to earlier investors rather than coming from genuine investment returns.
Prosecutors said Jawahar used incoming investor funds to repay earlier investors and finance his personal spending. Yahoo Sports, citing reporting on the case, said Jawahar received about $35 million from investors but put roughly $10 million into investments.
Those figures describe the overall prosecution, not Kelce’s individual involvement. For now, the amount tied to the Chiefs player and the exact nature of his financial loss have not been publicly disclosed in the reports from the sentencing.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.