Former Jaguars Employee Amit Patel Accused Of Stealing $22M From The Team

A seven-page court complaint accuses a former finance manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars of taking more than $22 million from the team between 2019 and 2023 using its virtual credit card program.

Former Jaguars Employee Amit Patel Accused Of Stealing $22M From The Team

Documents filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville accuse Amit Patel, who began working for the Jaguars in 2018, of one count of wire fraud and one count of illicit monetary transaction. Patel was employed by the Jaguars for five years. According to the document, he could have to give up assets and property that he bought or funded with the money if found guilty.

Although Patel was misinformed, his attorney Alex King said in a statement that his client did not use the Jaguars as his personal piggybank.

Rather, King contends that in order to make up for a significant financial loss, his client used “approximately 99 per cent” of the money taken from the team’s virtual credit card program on FanDuel and DraftKings, two online gambling sites.

“Almost the entirety of the funds Mr. Patel used from the VCC were spent on the gambling websites and efforts to win money back, anticipating that he would repay the funds with the winnings and make the Jaguars whole,” King told The Athletic. “Unfortunately, Mr. Patel’s compulsive gambling only exacerbated the situation, and he continued to misappropriate funds in an effort to have gambling winnings offset his significant losses.”

The club affirmed to The Athletic that they are, in fact, the “Business A” entity mentioned in the Jacksonville federal file.

“Over the past several months we have cooperated fully with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida during their investigation and thank them for their efforts in this case,” the team stated in a statement. “As was made clear in the charges, this individual was a former manager of financial planning and analysis who took advantage of his trusted position to covertly and intentionally commit significant fraudulent financial activity at the team’s expense for personal benefit.”

“This individual had no access to confidential football strategy, personnel or other football information. The team engaged experienced law and accounting firms to conduct a comprehensive independent review, which concluded that no other team employees were involved in or aware of his criminal activity.”

Additionally, it is said that Patel spent the money on spa treatments, athletic event and concert tickets, country club memberships, and sports memorabilia. In addition, he signed a retainer with a criminal defense legal company and booked private aircraft for himself and his pals.

A message asking for comment was not immediately answered by Patel’s lawyer.

The Jaguars’ 2018–22 media guides include Patel. During those years, he held the positions of coordinator for financial planning and analysis and manager for the same.

In addition to managing department budgets and the company’s monthly financial statements, Patel was the club’s virtual credit card program administrator. Per the complaint, this program let approved staff members to “request VCC’s for business-related purchases or expenses.”

The Jaguars and the NFL must be concerned by the discovery that Patel bet on sports with the majority of his pilfered money. It’s still unknown if Patel wagered on Jaguars games, but a recent statement from the organization stated that he did not have access to any private football information.

 

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