Investment adviser who defrauded NFL's Travis Kelce sentenced to 11 years in prison
Siddharth Jawahar, a Texas-based investment adviser who ran a Ponzi scheme that defrauded Kansas City Chiefs football star Travis Kelce and other investors out of millions of dollars, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Jawahar, 38, was also ordered to pay $31.35 million in restitution to victims.
According to St. Louis ABC affiliate station KMOV, Kelce was named in court as a victim during sentencing without any additional details being provided.
Jawahar pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud in connection with the scheme.
Judge Zachary Bluestone "cited the 'enormous' losses and the lengthy duration of Jawahar’s fraud and echoed a victim who said Jawahar 'weaponized' investors' trust," and also said Jawahar’s "failure to begin repaying victims was a major factor" in his sentence, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Jawahar ran a Texas-based investment company called Swiftarc Capital LLC. Beginning in 2015, he began investing client funds in one investment entity, Philip Morris Pakistan, to the extent that at one point "99% of client funds were consolidated into" the entity, according to the statement.
"When the value of PMP declined, Jawahar did not tell investors and falsely claimed that his investors were making profits," according to the statement.
Jawahar, who is from India and has been in the U.S. illegally since 2005, according to prosecutors, took in more than $35 million from Swiftarc investors but invested only about $10 million, the U.S. attorney's statement said.
Jawahar used the rest of the money to repay older investors and to fuel an extravagant lifestyle that included travel on private jets, stays at luxury hotels, a luxury apartment in Austin and New York City, memberships at multiple private clubs across the country, spending sprees at clothing stores and expensive outings at fancy restaurants, according to the statement.
Following his indictment, Jawahar "tried to obstruct justice by trying to coach a victim into giving a favorable statement to the FBI, lying about his immigration status and finances and trying to get his sister to remotely wipe his iPhone to hide evidence," the U.S. attorney's statement said.
"Sid Jawahar is a very good man, who has made some very serious mistakes and is taking ownership of all of it," Jawahar's attorney said in a statement to ABC News. "He has made every effort from a jail cell in St. Genevieve [County] to recoup restitution for victims and plans to continue to do. His efforts at helping other inmates improve their lives at St. Genevieve speak the loudest about his true character and heart for service."
ABC News has reached out to a Travis Kelce representative for comment.
