Judge sentences Siddharth Jawahar to 11 years for $35 million fraud

Siddharth Jawahar was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison on Tuesday, Sept. 15 for a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors said took in more than $35 million, and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was named in the St. Louis courtroom as one of the victims. U.S. District Judge Zachary M. Bluestone also ordered Jawahar to pay $31.35 million in restitution and imposed three years of supervision after his release.

Kelce's name came up only in passing at the September 15 hearing. Prosecutors identified him as a victim, gave no figure for what he lost and declined to discuss his connection to the case, saying they do not talk about individual victims, according to First Alert 4, the St. Louis station that covered the proceeding. TMZ reported that prosecutors made clear Kelce was a victim and was not accused of any wrongdoing.

How the scheme worked

Jawahar ran Swiftarc Capital LLC, a Texas-based investment company he co-founded. Beginning in 2015, according to the Justice Department, he steered client money into a single holding, Philip Morris Pakistan, a tobacco subsidiary of Philip Morris International, until approximately 99% of client funds sat in that one position. The value of the investment dropped. Jawahar did not tell investors, prosecutors said, and instead reported that they were making money while paying earlier clients with cash raised from new ones.

to fuel an extravagant lifestyle that included flights on private planes, stays at luxury hotels and expensive outings at fancy restaurants

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri listed private jet travel, stays at luxury hotels, apartments in Austin and New York City, private club memberships, shopping sprees and expensive restaurant outings among the spending funded by client money.

Between July 2016 and December 2023, Jawahar collected more than $35 million from Swiftarc investors and invested only about $10 million, prosecutors said. Clients were led to believe their money had gone into a specific organization or organizations. Those promised investments were never made. The case takes in a set of related entities, among them Swiftarc Fund LP and Swiftarc Growth Fund LP.

A congressman's letter to the judge

U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., wrote to Bluestone before the hearing asking for a 48-month sentence, a fraction of the maximum. The letter was signed September 3 and entered on the docket September 10 on congressional letterhead, and Graves said he was writing in his personal capacity. It described no personal connection between the congressman and Jawahar. Graves opened by praising the judge's professional background, then argued that Jawahar had chosen accountability.

Jawahar engaged the political consulting firm Axiom Strategies on August 24 for $10,000 to help develop and coordinate one or two letters of support for his sentencing, prosecutors said. Axiom and its chief executive, Jeff Roe, are connected to Graves. His campaign has paid the firm $1.77 million since 2006, according to Federal Election Commission records analyzed by First Alert 4. The station reported that it contacted Graves's office multiple times without a response and that Axiom did not respond either.

A structured, measured sentence enables him the eventual opportunity to re-enter society as a productive economic agent capable of continuing that restitution.

Bluestone did not follow the recommendation. He imposed the 11-year term and, at the hearing, called the attempts to influence him a "ludicrous idea."

Jail calls and a newspaper article

Recorded jail phone calls run through the government's filings. On an August 31 call, prosecutors said, Jawahar and Roe discussed the letter, with Jawahar asking whether it would come from a "state senator" and Roe answering that "it's gonna be someone good." Jawahar told Roe that the purpose of a favorable article about him was "to influence the judge." Roe, prosecutors said, replied that he could aim the article geographically at the judge's home.

I'm gonna take that and I'll put a little money around it and geofence his house and so he'll see it...

The article prosecutors flagged ran in the Jefferson City News Tribune and credited Jawahar with building an academic and vocational academy inside the jail where he is held. Officials at the Ste. Genevieve County Detention Center said they had never had an incarcerated individual, including this particular detainee, start any program within the facility.

In their filings, prosecutors wrote that Jawahar paid a political consultant thousands of dollars to influence the court rather than pay back the victims he stole from. First Alert 4 reported that Graves had sought leniency for a defendant whose scheme cost victims more than $25 million.

Conduct after the indictment formed a separate strand of the government's case. Prosecutors said Jawahar tried to coach a victim into giving the FBI a favorable statement. The U.S. Attorney's Office said he lied about his immigration status and his finances, and that he asked his sister to remotely wipe his iPhone to conceal evidence.

Jawahar pleaded guilty in January, in federal court in St. Louis, to three counts of wire fraud tied to the investment scheme, which the Justice Department said defrauded investors in Missouri and other places. The FBI and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case. Doug Passon, Jawahar's attorney, said his client was remorseful for his actions.

What the judge weighed at sentencing

Bluestone said during the hearing that he was troubled that no restitution was being paid. He cited the "enormous" losses and Jawahar's failure to begin repaying victims in handing down the sentence, nearly three times the term the congressman had urged. Jawahar told the court he was committed to making restitution.

Kelce named among the Swiftarc investors

Kelce, 36, the Chiefs tight end, was identified as a victim at the September 15 sentencing in St. Louis, where Jawahar, 38, drew the 11-year term. Little else was said about him in court. He has not been charged with or accused of anything, and the proceeding produced no accounting of what he put into the fund or what he lost.

A 2021 Forbes article identified Kelce as an investor in a fund created by Swiftarc, the company Jawahar co-founded. People reported that his connection ran through the Swiftarc Venture Labs Fund. TMZ, which reported the sentencing on Wednesday morning, said Kelce's name had previously been linked to a venture fund, though authorities did not spell out how the investment was tied to the scheme.

Kelce has not publicly commented on the case. First Alert 4 reported that the Chiefs organization had not responded to its request for comment.

Kelce's season and his July wedding

Kelce opened his 14th NFL season on September 14, in a 31-10 win over the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on "Monday Night Football." In that game he passed Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten for the second-most receiving yards by a tight end in NFL history, reaching 13,073. The game came days before his name surfaced in the St. Louis case.

He has been selected to 11 Pro Bowls and has won three Super Bowls. Kelce married Taylor Swift on July 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. TMZ reported that he also spent millions on a lakefront Ohio mansion.

The figures attached to the case vary with what is being counted. The Justice Department said Jawahar amassed more than $35 million from Swiftarc investors and invested only about $10 million of it. The restitution order signed by Bluestone is $31.35 million. The Justice Department put the cost to victims at more than $25 million.

Court documents note that Jawahar is from India and has been in the United States illegally since 2005, a point the judge recorded. He is being held at the Ste. Genevieve County Jail.

After the prison term, Jawahar faces three years of supervision. Prosecutors said he is expected to be deported once he has served his sentence.