An investment manager who bilked Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and dozens of other victims out of more than $35 million in a Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, and he was living in the country illegally the entire time.
Siddharth Jawahar, 38, ran the fraud through his Texas-based firm Swiftarc Capital LLC from July 2016 through December 2023, collecting investor money he largely never invested. A federal judge ordered him to pay $31.35 million in restitution and noted he may face deportation after serving his sentence, Fox News Digital reported.
Jawahar is an illegal immigrant from India who has been living in the United States since 2005, according to a court document reviewed by Fox News Digital. He pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in January 2026. The Department of Justice had indicted him in 2023 on those three wire fraud counts plus one count of investment-adviser fraud.
Prosecutors identified Kelce, the Chiefs' star tight end, as one of Jawahar's victims during the sentencing hearing. AP News reported that the scheme defrauded 64 victims total. NBA players Gary Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Mason Plumlee were also named among those defrauded. The DOJ said victims resided in Missouri and elsewhere across the country.
Neither prosecutors nor court filings disclosed how much Kelce invested or lost. The New York Post noted that prosecutors did not expand on the connection between the 36-year-old tight end and the case beyond naming him as a victim.
Judge Zachary Bluestone, who presided over the sentencing, said Jawahar "weaponized" investors' trust, resulting in "massive" losses for the victims.
The numbers tell the story of how brazen the scheme was. Jawahar raised more than $35 million from investors over seven years. He invested roughly $10 million of that total. The remaining $25 million went to fund a lifestyle he had no legal right to live in this country to enjoy.
Prosecutors said Jawahar spent investor funds on private jet charters, upscale apartments in Austin and New York, high-end dining, shopping sprees at clothing stores, and exclusive private club memberships. He managed 17 additional entities during the scheme, according to the DOJ.
The investment strategy, to the extent one existed, was reckless on its face. Jawahar allocated roughly 99 percent of client capital into a single stock: Philip Morris Pakistan. When that position declined, he hid the losses from investors. He issued falsified account statements showing gains that did not exist. And he used money from new investors to pay returns to earlier clients, the textbook structure of a Ponzi scheme.
Getting caught did not stop Jawahar from digging deeper. After his 2023 indictment, the DOJ says he engaged in a pattern of obstruction that compounded the original fraud.
He coached at least one victim into giving a favorable statement to the FBI. He lied to investigators about both his immigration status and his finances. And he attempted to have his sister remotely wipe his iPhone to destroy evidence, Breitbart reported. Whether his sister complied with that request, or whether she faces any legal consequences, has not been publicly disclosed.
Colin McDonald, an assistant attorney in the DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division, posted on X after the sentencing, calling Jawahar an "illegal alien fraudster" and congratulating the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and its partners for their "great work" on the case.
The immigration dimension of this case deserves attention beyond the headline. Jawahar entered the United States in 2005 and lived here unlawfully for more than two decades. During that time, he launched an investment firm, raised tens of millions of dollars from professional athletes and other clients, maintained luxury residences in two major cities, and operated at least 18 business entities.
No one in the financial regulatory system or the immigration enforcement system flagged a man who was in the country illegally while managing millions in investor capital. The DOJ says he may now face deportation, after an 11-year prison term that American taxpayers will fund.
The specific nature of Jawahar's immigration violation, whether he overstayed a visa or entered the country unlawfully, has not been detailed in public filings. But the court document reviewed by Fox News Digital confirms his presence in the U.S. since 2005 was unlawful.
Jawahar's guilty plea in January 2026 covered only the three wire fraud counts. The disposition of the investment-adviser fraud charge from his 2023 indictment, whether it was dropped as part of a plea agreement or remains pending, has not been publicly clarified.
When someone can live illegally in this country for twenty years, build a financial empire on stolen money, and bilk professional athletes out of millions before anyone notices, the system did not work. It failed at every level, immigration enforcement, financial oversight, and basic accountability. Eleven years and a restitution order are a start, but the victims already paid the price for a government that was not paying attention.
