In some major news out of federal court, an illegal alien was charged with bilking American investors out of tens of millions of dollars in a ridiculous investment scheme targeting the rich and famous, most notable among whom was Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs football star husband of far-left pop star and performer Taylor Swift.
The DOJ revealed the scheme and sentence in a press release that it published on Tuesday, September 15, in which it described the consequences for the illegal alien and how his scheme had taken millions upon millions of dollars from gullible American investors like Mr. Kelce.
Beginning, the press release said, “U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone on Tuesday sentenced an illegal immigrant who ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors in Missouri and elsewhere out of millions of dollars to 11 years in prison. Judge Bluestone also ordered Siddharth Jawahar, 38, to pay $31.35 million in restitution to victims.”
Describing the scheme, a classic Ponzi scheme featuring lies to investors and a lavish lifestyle, in some depth somewhat later in the press release, the DOJ said, “Jawahar ran a Texas-based investment company called Swiftarc Capital LLC. In 2015, he began investing client funds in a single investment, Philip Morris Pakistan (PMP). Eventually, 99% of client funds were consolidated into PMP. When the value of PMP declined, Jawahar did not tell investors and falsely claimed that his investors were making profits. Investors were also falsely led to believe that he’d invested their money in a specific company or companies but he never made the promised investments.”
Continuing, it said, “From about July 2016 through December 2023, Jawahar took in more than $35 million from Swiftarc investors but invested only about $10 million. Jawahar used money from new investors 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.”
That wasn’t all. He also tried to obstruct justice after being caught, doing everything from lying about his legal status as a migrant and trying to get a family member to wipe incriminating evidence off his iPhone. The statement said, ” After 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.” For all that, he pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, and was sentenced to 11 years.
It was TMZ that revealed Kelce’s unfortunate involvement in the sordid business, noting that prosecutors had listed him as one of the investors who was bilked and burned by Siddharth Jawahar in the massive scheme. While Kelce was named as one of the victims, however, the exact amount he lost to the Ponzi scheme was unclear.
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The connection appears to potentially be a venture fund in which Kelce had previously invested, though the link is unclear and was left undescribed. The prosecutors did make clear, however, that Kelce is only a victim and is not accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever in the matter.