Last week you might have seen headlines about how NFL star Travis Kelce got swindled by a Texas hedge fund manager who was running a Ponzi scheme.

• Deep in the details is how venture capital played a key role in the deception.

Catch up quick: Sid Jawahar, co-founder of Swiftarc Capital, in January pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud.

• Last week he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $31.35 million in restitution (although it's unclear that Jawahar has, or ever will have, the means to do so).

Behind the scenes: Swiftarc Capital was formed in late 2010 as a frontier markets hedge fund, investing in obscure equities.

• Jawahar was the outward-facing fundraiser, while much of the investment sourcing was done by a former UTIMCO analyst named Siamc Kamalie. They were seeded and aided by several Texas-area investors with deep track records.
• "Siamc was real smart and hard-working; the kind of guy who'd be gone for a month to China or Africa and come back with just $6,000 in expenses," says a source. "But there were early red flags on Sid, and soon he seemed to push Siamc to the side."

Zoom in: According to the criminal indictment, Jawahar in 2015 began investing almost all Swiftarc investor monies into a single company, Philip Morris Pakistan.

• PMP's stock price swooned and, when some Swiftarc investors tried to redeem, Jawahar didn't have the money. So he began raising it from others, including for a series of venture capital funds under a new brand called Swiftarc Ventures.
• Swiftarc Ventures wasn't just a bogus shell. It hired a real staff and backed startups in sectors like beauty and wellness. But a lot of its money also went to repay Swiftarc Capital investors, plus to fund Jawahar's lavish lifestyle.
• One former employee tells me: "Nobody in the Ventures team knew what was happening... It's fucking ironic that a guy who preached to us that integrity was the most important item of character goes down on that."

Fast forward: Jawahar's house of cards began crashing down in June 2022. That's when the Texas State Securities Board ordered Swiftarc Capital to cease and desist from "engaging in fraud," after discovering that the firm had been inflating its Philip Morris Pakistan position.

• Federal prosecutors indicted Jawaher the following year.
• At some point, a firm called Relevance Ventures took control of two Swiftarc funds. Fred Goad, a Relevance partner who died last year, was listed as having an ownership stake in Swiftarc since 2013.
• Relevance didn't return a request for comment or clarification. A DOJ spokesperson also declined further comment.

Paramount Skydance (Nasdaq: PSKY) yesterday agreed to settle with 12 state AGs, led by California's Rob Bonta, who had sued to block its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD).

Why it's the BFD: Hollywood's long-running studio saga is over.

Zoom in: The AGs didn't get much, perhaps befitting of what always was a steep legal climb.

• Behavioral remedies include the creation of an editorial oversight board for CBS and CNN, albeit one appointed by Paramount CEO David Ellison, a promise to distribute at least 30 films per year in theaters, and to spend at least $1.5 billion more on domestic film production over the next five years.

The bottom line: "Ellison played his hand brilliantly, pressuring Bonta by threatening to pull Paramount and its thousands of jobs out of California. Now the deal's historical debt load becomes his biggest issue." — Sara Fischer, Axios

• Cyera, an NYC-based data security company, raised $400m in Series G extension funding from Goldman Sachs Alternatives at nearly a $12b post-money valuation. axios.link/4d14P7z

🚑 Heidi, an Australian medical scribe and care platform, raised US$340 million General Catalyst led $240m in non-dilutive financing, while Blackbird led the other $100m in equity with Phoenix Court, Point72 Private Investments, and Headline participating. axios.link/3V5JTpY

• Verda, a Helsinki-based AI neocloud, raised $189m. Emergence Capital led, joined by MUFG Innovation Partners, Supermicro, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Lifeline Ventures, 6 Degrees Capital, byFounders, and Tesi. axios.link/46BNqyU

⚡ Kairos Power, an Alameda, Calif.-based nuclear reactor startup, raised around $100m in direct investment and in-kind engineering services from Samsung C&T. axios.link/4y3Vuo1

🌍 Rainmaker, an El Segundo, Calif.-based cloud seeding startup, raised $100m in Series B funding from NOA VC, Upfront Ventures, DCVC, Lowercarbon Capital and Dream Ventures. axios.link/4h3gpl7

• Go.AI, a Chicago-based seller of AI hardware appliances to banks, raised $85m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Updata Partners led, joined by insiders GFT Ventures and Launch. axios.link/47aFzbx

• Firecrawl, a library of official data for AI agents, raised $75m in Series B funding. Smash Capital led, joined by Altos Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, YC, Freestyle, and Offline. axios.link/46yLrLE

• Confido, an NYC-based startup that automates back-office operations for consumer brands, raised $55m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Insight Partners led, joined by Trenches Capital, Watchfire, Barrel Ventures, Footwork, and YC. axios.link/4777V6C

⚡ Amber Electric, an Australian battery-focused energy retailer, raised €49m in Series E funding led by Morgan Stanley. axios.link/4rmmEEd

• Morphotonics, a Dutch developer of nanoimprint lithography platforms for AI glasses manufacturing, raised €40m in Series B funding from 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, EIC Fund, Ernij Next, and EIB. axios.link/4rlP54U

• Baselayer, a provider of fraud detection for banks and other financial institutions, raised $35m in Series A funding. M13 led, joined by Picus Capital, Afore Capital, and Torch Capital. axios.link/4xCv23G

• Paymob, an Egypt-based payments infrastructure startup, raised $35m. Mubadala and the EBRD led, joined by British International Investment, Global Ventures, and DPI Ventures. axios.link/4xCo5je

🚑 Biolevate, a Paris-based provider of pharma SaaS, raised €30m in Series A funding. Raise France and Orange Ventures led, joined by EQT Ventures, MSD Global Health Innovation Fund, and Station F. axios.link/4dQ7XU5

• Chamelio, an AI platform for in-house legal teams, raised $26m in Series A funding. Entrée Capital led, joined by Work-Bench, Emerge Ventures, and Bright Pixel Capital. axios.link/4hECcQa

• Sela, an SF-based provider of voice agents to automate mortgage sales calls, raised $21m in seed and Series A funding from Emergence Capital and Costanoa, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4y9emlq

🚑 Teal Health, an SF-based self-collection device for at-home HPV cervical cancer screening, raised $22m in Series A funding. .406 Ventures led, joined by Emerson Collective, Serena Ventures, and Japan's MPower Partners. axios.link/3V6GG9z

• Spott, a recruitment management platform, raised $21m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Balderton led, joined by Base10 Partners, YC, and Fortino. axios.link/4AqEQk6

🚑 Bird&Be, a Toronto-based provider of fertility supplements and at-home reproductive health screening tests, raised US$13m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. BDC Thrive and BFG Partners led, joined by BAM Ventures, Founder Collective, Rejuvenation Ventures, and HSR Ventures. axios.link/3Va2oJO

• Primo, an AI platform for managing corporate IT, raised $8m led by Headline and Global Founders Capital. axios.link/46HtIBI

• Zeliq, a sales prospecting platform, raised €7m in seed extension funding. The Moon Venture led, joined by Ora Global and Cleo Ventures. axios.link/4xEA7Zk

• Lightspring, a French 3D lithography startup, raised €3.1m in seed funding. Atlantic and OVNI Capital led, joined by Concept Ventures, Ixcore, and Plug and Play Ventures. axios.link/4hFNrYI

• Adlib Software, a Diversis Capital portfolio company, agreed to acquire Paperbox, a Belgian agentic AI insurance platform. axios.link/4jhPvqZ

🌍 Audax Private Equity acquired Integral Consulting, a Boulder, Colo.-based science and engineering consultancy, from Imperial Capital Group. axios.link/4yhvaH5

🌍 Bain Capital agreed to acquire lake and pond management firm SOLitude and its Vertex aquatic solutions business from Rentokil Initial (NYSE: RTO) for $230m. axios.link/3SZH49n

• Butterfly Equity agreed to acquire Sabert, a Sayreville, N.J.-based food packaging manufacturer. axios.link/4rs3w7G

• Cornell Capital acquired Hancock Claims Consultants, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of claims field services to residential P&C insurers. axios.link/3TJ7D2I

• Elvaston invested in DataConsult, a Polish provider of warehouse management systems. axios.link/4hGsexK

• Hg agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Greek enterprise software company Entersoftone at a valuation north of €1b, with Olympia Group and Imker Group retaining the other 30%. axios.link/46CmxuG

• IDP Education (ASX: IEL) rejected an A$695m takeover offer from Blackstone. axios.link/4zbP9qX

• Main Capital Partners acquired Qbees, a German managed IT services and software provider. axios.link/4xCH5Oq

• Media One, backed by American Pacific Group and Northstar Capital, bought the U.S. business of Premex Solutions, a Marietta, Ga.-based print-ready fabric supplier, from U.K.-based Premier Textiles. axios.link/4yMS4G5

• Shamrock Capital and Flexpoint Ford acquired Podium Entertainment, an indie-author book and audiobook publisher, for more than $400m, per the WSJ. axios.link/4yadugE

⚡ Stonepeak invested in AMPYR, a London-based distributed energy infrastructure platform. axios.link/4hoyARe

🌍 Vanguard Renewables, owned by BlackRock, agreed to acquire Generate Upcycle's North American operations, forming a food waste-to-renewable natural gas platform. axios.link/4rHOPh7

⚡ Verdane invested in Xpansiv, an NYC-based provider of registries, marketplaces, and data for energy transition markets. axios.link/4iCSQAP

• Accelevation, a Miamisburg, Ohio-based provider of power distribution and other data center infrastructure, set IPO terms to 30m shares at $20-$24. It would have a $4.9b market cap at the midpoint, was acquired last year by Olympus Partners, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (ACCV). axios.link/4yar5oc

• Highway Roop Precision Technologies, an Indian auto parts company owned by Carlyle, is prepping a domestic IPO that could raise up to $400m, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3VnVVuP

🚑 Iambic Therapeutics, a San Diego-based AI drug discovery company, filed for an IPO. The Phase 1 biotech plans to list on the Nasdaq (IAM), and had raised over $350m from firms like Abingworth, Alexandria Venture Investments, Alumni Ventures, ARK, Ascenta, Catalio, Everbright Biofund, and Freeflow Ventures. axios.link/3VK1fZB

• Silicon Valley Acquisition II, a SPAC led by Dan Nash (ex-Cohen & Co.), filed for a $220m IPO. axios.link/3TF0NeF

• BlackLine (Nasdaq: BL) acquired NetNow, a Toronto-based B2B customer onboarding and credit risk management startup backed by Rhino Ventures, Intuit Canada, Antler, Day One Ventures, and Plug and Play. axios.link/4ruECEE

• Cognex (Nasdaq: CGNX) agreed to acquire RealSense, a provider of depth-sensing cameras and vision tech for robotic perception and physical AI, for around $500m upfront plus retention earnouts. RealSense last year spun out of Intel and raised $50m in Series A funding from Intel Capital, MediaTek Ventures and Dormakaba Group. axios.link/4rqtUyD

• Titan (NYSE: TWI) agreed to sell its undercarriage business to Italy's USCO for $207m upfront, plus a $6m earnout. axios.link/4ArO93b

• Certares raised a single-asset CV led by New 2ND for Guardian Alarm. axios.link/4hEjMz8

• Schroders Capital raised $1.3b for its fourth PE co-investment fund. axios.link/47eOYPi

• .406 Ventures promoted Kathryn Taylor Reddy to partner. axios.link/47bfmto

• Scott Barclay stepped down as a Palo Alto, Calif.-based managing director at Insight Partners, where he'll remain a senior advisor, to launch a startup. axios.link/3V2HZ9G

• Lux Capital added three partners: Sarah Hess (ex-Point72 Ventures) and Mia Krishnamurthy (CRV) on the investment team, and Mahi Joshi (Evercore) on the capital formation team. axios.link/47bvivP