Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has had quite the busy summer.
The 11-time Pro Bowler married 14-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift in what many dubbed “the wedding of the century” back on July 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
He also kicked off his 14th NFL season with a big 31-10 win over the Denver Broncos on “Monday Night Football” just days ago — a game in which Kelce passed Dallas Cowboys legend Jason Witten for the second-most receiving yards for a tight end in NFL history (13,002).
And now it’s been revealed that Kelce was part of a massive multimillion-dollar fraud scheme, according to multiple reports, which made it clear the All-Pro TE was a victim and not accused of any wrongdoing.
TMZ reported on Wednesday morning that the 36-year-old Kelce was a victim of a Ponzi scheme through a company he had invested in.
“Kelce was named in federal court Tuesday as one of the people burned by Siddharth Jawahar, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for a fraud prosecutors say sucked in more than $35 million from investors,” TMZ said.
In addition to his prison sentence, Jawahar will also serve three years of supervision upon his release, and he is expected to be deported after he serves his sentence, according to Action News 5.
How Was Travis Kelce Involved?
Details of the case are still unclear, but what is known is that Kelce was an investor in Swiftarc Capital LLC, which was co-founded by Jawahar, who allegedly funneled millions of dollars to Philip Morris Pakistan, a tobacco subsidiary of Philip Morris headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan.
According to TMZ, Jawahar splurged on “private jets, luxury hotels, restaurants, shopping and pricey apartments” with his client’s money, and when the Philip Morris Pakistan investment didn’t pan out, he outright lied to the investors (including Kelce) regarding their money and began funneling money from new investors to pay back those who were losing money.
Jawahar reportedly pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and has to pay back more than $31 million in restitution. It’s not known how much money Kelce lost in the ordeal.
“Prosecutors said Jawahar also paid a consultant to ensure a positive article was written about him that could then be used to ‘influence the judge’ who was set to sentence him,” Lauren Trager and Cody Lillich of Action News 5 reported. “Their conversations were recorded on jail phone calls.”
This is the second big financial hit Kelce has taken over the years.
His Leawood, Kansas, home was burglarized back in 2024, resulting in him losing $20,000 in cash, over $100,000 in jewelry, and his jersey from his very first Super Bowl championship.
