JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee will plead guilty to wire fraud and illegal monetary transaction after being accused of stealing more than $22 million from the organization through the use of a virtual credit card.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
The list of items Amit Patel is alleged to have purchased with that card is extensive and includes a Ponte Vedra Condo, a Tesla, a truck and a $95,000 watch just to name a few.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Patel’s attorney however, claims those items were purchased legitimately and 99 percent of the misused funds were spent on gambling, an addiction Patel is now receiving treatment for.
“Almost the entirety of the funds Mr. Patel used from the VCC were spent on the gambling websites and efforts to win money back, with the anticipation he would repay the funds with the winnings and make the Jaguars whole. 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,” wrote Patel’s attorney Alex King in a news release.
Original Story: Former Jaguars employee accused of stealing more than $22M from team to buy condo, crypto, cars
Patel was the manager of financial planning and analysis for the Jacksonville Jaguars and has been accused of spending more than $22 million of the team’s money on personal expenses.
While court documents do not name the Jaguars specifically, the team did confirm Patel’s alleged scheme.
“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,” a Jaguars spokesperson told Action News Jax in an emailed statement.
We attempted to reach Patel at the condo he allegedly paid for with Jaguars funds and at an E-Town home owned by his parents, but no one answered the door.
Read: What Jags QB Trevor Lawrence said about his ankle sprain, why he didn’t leave the field in a cart
Patel administered the team’s virtual credit card program and is accused of hiding his fraudulent transactions by inflating the reported cost of legitimate transactions and inserting fictitious transactions that appeared legitimate.
“It shows skill, but it also shows that we can’t allow an individual, one individual, to have that level of involvement with an organizations accounting structure,” said Action News Jax Law and Safety Expert Dale Carson.
Carson explained Patel could face serious prison time… As much as 20 years.
“The exposure here is substantial, because the exposure to time in custody relates to the volume of the theft. The higher it is, the larger the sentence,” said Carson.
That potential sentence could be reduced depending on how much allegedly stolen money is able to be clawed back.
Read: Duval, welcome your new pro basketball franchise, the Jacksonville 95ers
But Cason said that might be difficult, especially if the attorney’s claim that nearly all the money was spent on gambling proves to be true.
“But the government certainly will be able to recover any tangible assets, watches, apartments, cars, things of that nature,” said Carson.
In addition to some of the alleged purchases we already listed, Patel is also accused of spending the team’s money to purchase a county club membership and even hire a criminal defense law firm.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
“Mr. Patel is deeply remorseful and apologizes for his conduct. He loved working for the Jacksonville Jaguars and regrets his actions which have resulted in him both losing his dream job and damaging the organization,” wrote King in the Thursday press release.
The full statement released by Patel’s attorneys:
December 7, 2023
PRESS RELEASE – for immediate distribution
In February of this year, Mr. Patel met with officials from the NFL who were investigating his gambling activities, primarily involving Daily Fantasy Sports. Subsequent to that meeting, Mr. Patel was suspended and later terminated from his position with the Jacksonville Jaguars, stemming from his gambling activity utilizing the Jaguars’ virtual credit card (VCC) program. During the course of his employment with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mr. Patel used VCC funds to gamble on Daily Fantasy Sports, the vast majority of which was done on FanDuel, and a significant portion on DraftKings. Approximately 99% of the funds misappropriated from the Jaguars’ VCC were gambling losses, almost all of which occurred on those two websites. The losses were most significant in the final months leading up to the NFL’s investigation.
Mr. Patel suffers from a serious gambling addiction, and in the spring of this year, checked himself into extensive, inpatient rehabilitation to address his addiction. Mr. Patel’s serious gambling addiction does not excuse his actions, which he takes full responsibility for. Although incomprehensible to most, a gambling addition is similar to substance abuse, such that the disorder can stimulate the brain’s dopamine response much like drugs or alcohol do. It provides an uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on one’s life, and creates a willingness to risk more and more, despite the impact it has. Almost the entirety of the funds Mr. Patel used from the VCC were spent on the gambling websites and efforts to win money back, with the anticipation he would repay the funds with the winnings and make the Jaguars whole. 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.
While it has been widely reported that Mr. Patel used the funds to live an extravagant lifestyle, his modest residence was paid for mostly with family money and other money earned. Additionally, Mr. Patel purchased a Tesla Model 3 with his earned funds and traded that in to upgrade his vehicle to a similar Model 3. Mr. Patel did not use the Jaguars’ VCC to fund his lifestyle, but in a horribly misguided effort to pay back previous gambling losses that utilized the Jaguars’ VCC program.
Mr. Patel is deeply remorseful and apologizes for his conduct. He loved working for the Jacksonville Jaguars and regrets his actions which have resulted in him both losing his dream job and damaging the organization. Mr. Patel remains in treatment and recovery for his gambling addiction and intends to seek ongoing treatment for the foreseeable future. To further those efforts, he has founded Round Robin Recovery LLC to assist others struggling with gambling addiction and continues to be active in the treatment community. He has fully cooperated, and will continue to cooperate, with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the FBI, and the United States Attorney’s Office in their investigation of his conduct. Mr. Patel intends to enter a plea of guilty to resolve the charges against him and takes full responsibility for his actions. Mr. Patel apologizes to the team with whom he enjoyed working so much, to his former colleagues, as well as to his family and the Jacksonville community. Further questions can be directed to Mr.Patel’s attorney, Alex King, Esq.
— First Coast Criminal Defense
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.