An illegal immigrant who ran a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme was sentenced Tuesday to 11 years in federal prison.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was among the victims named in court.
U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone sentenced Siddharth Jawahar, 38, in St. Louis.
The judge also ordered him to pay $31.35 million in restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said.
Jawahar pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud.
JUST IN: Travis Kelce has been identified as a victim in a $35+ million Ponzi scheme run by investment manager Siddharth Jawahar. pic.twitter.com/l0uI9wSr13
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) September 16, 2026
Prosecutors identified Kelce as a victim at the hearing. They did not say how much the tight end invested or lost, KMOV-TV reported.
Jawahar operated Texas-based Swiftarc Capital LLC.
In 2015, he began concentrating client money in one stock, Philip Morris Pakistan.
Over time, about 99 percent of client funds sat in that single holding.
When the position declined, he did not tell investors, the Justice Department said.
He kept reporting that their money was invested and making money.
From about July 2016 through December 2023, he collected more than $35 million from Swiftarc clients.
He invested only about $10 million of that total.
He used later investors to pay earlier ones.
He also blew much of the money on private jets, luxury hotels, fancy apartments in Austin and New York, private-club dues, clothing sprees, and restaurant bills.
A 2021 Forbes article listed Kelce among athletes in a Swiftarc-related fund, along with NBA players Tim Hardaway Jr. and Mason Plumlee.
The Justice Department’s news release described Jawahar as an illegal immigrant in the headline and the body of the announcement, making his status part of the official account of the case.
Coverage of the St. Louis sentencing said he is from India and has remained in the United States illegally since 2005. Prosecutors told the court he is expected to be removed from the country after he finishes the 11-year term.
Bluestone pointed to what he called “enormous” losses and to the length of the fraud, which stretched from the mid-2010s into late 2023 and reached investors in Missouri and other states.
He also noted that Jawahar had not begun paying restitution even after pleading guilty, and he treated that delay as a major factor in the sentence.
The judge echoed a victim who said Jawahar “weaponized” investors’ trust.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
