Il Nuovo Postiglione - NFL Chiefs' Kelce among investors bilked in Ponzi scheme

Kelce was named in court by prosecutors among the victims in a Ponzi scheme, according to St. Louis TV station KMOV, that saw Siddharth Jawahar sentenced Tuesday to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $31.35 million to Kelce and other investors, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said.

Jawahar, 38, was a co-founder and managing partner of Texas-based Swiftarc Capital, whose investors included Kelce.

Judge Zachary M. Bluestone said the duration of the fraud, stemming from 2016, and "enormous" losses involved plus Jawahar's failure to start repaying victims were key factors in the sentence.

Almost all of the funds were consolidated into Philip Morris Pakistan (PMP), and when PMP's value declined, Jawahar instead told investors it was profitable and falsely told clients their money had been made in specific investments when he never made such investments.

The court said Jawahar took more than $35 million from Swiftarc but invested only about $10 million from July 2016 through December 2023, with money spent on private jets, lavish hotels, luxury apartments in Texas and New York, fancy clothes and meals and memberships in private clubs.

Jawahar pleaded guilty in January to three counts of wire fraud.

According to court documents, Jawahar is from India and was illegally in the United States since 2005.

KMOV reported that Sam Graves, a US House of Representatives member from Missouri, had sent a letter asking a federal judge for leniency in Jawahar's sentencing.

S.Abato--INP