Indian-origin man jailed in $35m Ponzi case; Taylor Swift’s husband Kelce a victim

3 min readUpdated: Sep 17, 2026 04:45 PM IST

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. (Photo: Travis Kelce/Instagram)

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the husband of Taylor Swift, was named among 64 victims of a Ponzi scheme that took more than $35 million from investors, Television station KMOV reported.

The prosecutor identified Kelce in court Tuesday as 38-year-old Siddharth Jawahar, the founder of Texas-based investment company Swiftarc Capital LLC. US District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone sentenced Jawahar to 11 years in federal prison and ordered him to pay $31.35 million in restitution on Tuesday, The Guardian reported.

Jawahar, who pleaded guilty to three federal wire fraud charges in January, used funds from new investors to pay earlier investors in a Ponzi scheme, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors did not provide details about Kelce’s involvement in the case or disclose how much money he may have lost, according to KMOV. His name also did not appear in Jawahar’s indictment or judgment, but was read in court alongside other victims in the Ponzi scheme.

Kelce, who recently married global pop star Taylor Swift, did not publicly comment on the case.

How is Kelce connected to the case?

A 2021 Forbes article identified Kelce as an investor in a Swiftarc fund co-founded by Jawahar. NBA players Tim Hardaway Jr., Gary Harris and Mason Plumlee were also identified as the fund investors, but their status as victims in the case remains unclear.

The amount he invested in Jawahar’s fund has not been publicly disclosed.

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Jawahar took tens of millions of dollars from investors

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Courts · Fraud · Diaspora

Eleven years for the Ponzi scheme that caught Travis Kelce

Siddharth Jawahar, 38, put almost all his clients’ money into one investment, hid the losses when it fell, and paid redemptions with new investors’ cash. Sixty-four people lost money. One of them plays tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

11 years

Federal prison sentence

$31.35m

Restitution ordered to victims

$35m+

Taken in, 2016 to 2023

64

Victims

Who is Siddharth Jawahar?

The man sentenced, and the victim named alongside him. They are not in the same position.

The Indian angle

Siddharth Jawahar, 38

Born in India, he founded Swiftarc Capital LLC, a Texas-registered investment company, and also managed Swiftarc Fund LP, Swiftarc Holdings and Swiftarc Opportunities Fund. He pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud; a fourth charge of investment adviser fraud was dropped under the plea deal. Prosecutors told the court he had been living in the United States without legal status since 2005.

The Kelce connection

Travis Kelce

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end was named in open court on Tuesday as one of the 64 victims. A 2021 Forbes article had reported that he invested in a fund set up by Swiftarc. Prosecutors declined to say more, citing a policy of not discussing individual victims, so how much he put in or lost is not public. His representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Kelce is a victim in this case. No wrongdoing of any kind is alleged against him.

How the scheme worked

Everything funnelled into a single bet, then hidden when it went wrong.

1

Money came in, most of it never invested

Between July 2016 and December 2023 Swiftarc Capital took in more than $35 million from investors. Only about $10 million was ever invested, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Concentration of client funds

From 2015 he steered client money into one investment, Philip Morris Pakistan, until at one point 99% of client funds sat in that single holding. Clients had been told their money was spread across a range of companies.

2

The bet went wrong, and he concealed it

When the investment’s value fell, prosecutors say he did not tell investors. He told them the opposite: that their money was generating strong returns.

3

New money paid the people asking to leave

Redemption requests were met with funds from newer investors — the mechanism that makes it a Ponzi scheme rather than a failed investment.

4

And it funded a lifestyle

Prosecutors allege the rest went on private jet travel, luxury hotels, apartments in Austin and New York, memberships at private clubs around the country, expensive restaurant outings and shopping sprees at clothing stores.

5

Then he tried to cover his tracks

After being indicted, prosecutors say he tried to coach a victim into giving a favourable statement to the FBI, lied about his immigration status and his finances, and attempted to have his sister remotely wipe his iPhone.

In the courtroom

Sentencing before Judge Zachary Bluestone in St Louis, Tuesday, September 15.

The judge

Bluestone cited the enormous losses and the length of the fraud, and echoed a victim who said Jawahar had weaponised investors’ trust. The US Attorney’s Office said his failure to begin repaying victims was a major factor in the sentence.

The defence

Jawahar’s attorney described his client as a “very good man” who had made serious mistakes and was taking ownership of all of it. He declined to comment on the connection to Kelce.

Sources: Associated Press; CNN; NBC News; ABC News; Fortune; the US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri.

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Jawahar, who is from India and had been living in the US without legal status since 2005, took more than $35 million from investors through his investment company, prosecutors said. He invested only about $10 million and used some of the remaining money to repay earlier investors and fund personal expenses.

Prosecutors said that the 38-year-old used funds from new investors to pay earlier investors and spent additional money on private-plane flights, luxury hotels and expensive restaurants.

US District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone sentenced Jawahar to 11 years in prison and ordered him to pay $31.35 million in restitution.

Jawahar, according to the court filings cited by KMOV, paid $10,000 to political consulting firm Axiom Strategies in August to help generate support before sentencing.

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