Travis Kelce must have just had his biggest loss since the Super Bowl.
The Kansas City Chiefs' tight end, chasing more money than what he's earned in multi-million dollar sports contracts, was reportedly taken in by an elaborate Ponzi scheme that netted several other pro athletes.
He was named as one of those victimized in a $35 million scam run by a Texas fund manager named Siddharth Jawahar.
Jawahar operated Swiftarc Capital LLC, an investment firm that got caught up in a federal wire fraud investigation. The Department of Justice says that Jawahar raised between $35 million between July 2016 and December 2023, but instead of managing diversified portfolios he dumped nearly all of it into a single stock. Philip Morris Pakistan.
The scam artist lived the high life before he was snared by federal investigators.
Federal prosecutors noted Jawahar actually invested roughly $10 million of the total funds raised. He spent the remainder funding personal luxuries, including private jet charters, upscale apartments in Austin and New York, high-end dining and exclusive private club memberships.
In a St. Louis court on Tuesday, Jawahar pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and was ordered to pay more than $31 million in restitution. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
New details are coming out about the illegal immigrant who pleaded guilty to running a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say victimized Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 17, 2026
Federal prosecutors say Siddharth Jawahar raised more than $35 million through an… pic.twitter.com/7XB6qfIGDf
The financial hit comes as Travis Kelce and his bride Taylor Swift are reportedly living a private life in their new Ohio mansion.
Travis Kelce reportedly dished out millions to purchase a massive lakefront mansion in Ohio before his wedding to Taylor Swift.
The Kansas City Chiefs star purchased the residence for $5.35 million, according to property records obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
The outlet reported that Kelce, 36, closed on the 21,000-square-foot home in March — four months before he and Swift, also 36, exchanged vows inside New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Kelce wasn't the only pro athlete taken in by the fraud scandal, however. Several NBA players, including Gary Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Mason Plumlee, have been reported as victims.
This isn't the only recent fraud scandal to impact the NFL. As I reported earlier at RedState, a "fake" 49ers scam took in millions scamming women out of a total of nearly $1.3 million.
Federal prosecutors say 35-year-old Daejon Labrayae Love posed as a San Francisco 49ers player while carrying out an elaborate romance-and-investment scheme that began in February 2022.
Love and 18-year-old Taylor Jamie Chan are now facing federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon.
When you throw in the gambling scandals, you really get a picture of the shady behavior that the big business of professional sports attracts.
It seems like for a lot of pro athletes, the game-beyond-the-game is keeping your head on straight and not getting pulled into bigger losses than can happen in just one game.
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