Ex-Jags Employee Sentenced To 78 Months For Defrauding Team

Amit Patel, a former Jacksonville Jaguars employee, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison on Tuesday in connection with a brazen scheme where he stole $22 million dollars from the NFL franchise to fund his gambling addiction.

U.S. District Judge Henry L. Adams ordered Patel to pay full restitution to the Jaguars for committing wire fraud and engaging in an illegal monetary transaction. Patel, 31, served as the Jaguars’ financial manager for several years through 2023. The federal judge also ordered Patel to seek treatment for gambling addiction.

“I stand before you embarrassed, shamed, and disappointed by my actions,” said Patel, during Tuesday’s hearing.

The scheme

As an administrator for the Jaguars’ virtual credit card (VCC) program, Patel used his position to make hundreds of purchases and transactions with no legitimate business purpose, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. At one point, Patel admitted to investigators that he “artificially inflated,” legitimate expenses and also generated fictitious ones.

In November 2022, Patel made $5.6 million in fraudulent transactions, an amount that normally would have exceeded the cap of the VCC program. Following a request with a bank that financed the program, Patel increased the limit by nearly $3 million to $7.5 million. Patel eventually became the sole administrator of the VCC program, escaping detection from the NFL franchise.

An attorney for Patel filed a motion this month for his client to attend the hearing virtually, a motion Adams denied. Patel expressed remorse for the crimes in a sentencing memorandum filed on March 7th.

Upon reflection of what has happened, I see my detection in this offense as an act of providence. So, as I think about it, I’m glad that I got caught. Although I have much trust to restore in the community, I now see the situation as a way to help as many others as I can who have addictions and problems with gambling. I realize that because it happened to me, it can happen to anybody.

— Former Jags’ employee Amit Patel, in sentencing memorandum

DFS addiction

According to records from fantasy sports website RotoGrinders, ESPN reported last December that Patel entered numerous high-stakes fantasy contests. RotoGrinders is owned by Better Collective, the parent company of Sports Handle. Over a six-year period, Patel wagered at least $500,000 under the username ParlayPicker.

Per court records, Patel transferred approximately $20 million of the VCC funds to FanDuel and another $1 million to DraftKings. Patel also used the embezzled funds to purchase a host of luxury amenities. Upon his guilty plea last year, he listed a Tesla Model 3 sedan and an $82,000 watch among the assets available for forfeiture. The Jaguars reportedly asked FanDuel to reimburse them for some or all of the funds, a request the operator reportedly rebuffed.

The Jaguars previously indicated that Patel did not receive proprietary information from the team on football strategy. The NFL also found no evidence of match manipulation by the club and determined that Patel did not receive any inside information on the wagers in question.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of seven years, while Patel’s attorney argued for a much lighter one. Alex King, Patel’s attorney, asked the court for a sentence between probation and one year in prison.

Prior to Patel’s guilty plea, King indicated that his client began to seek treatment for gambling addiction. It is unclear if Patel will undergo in-person treatment while under incarceration, or if he will receive treatment for the addiction virtually.

“Patel knowingly and wittingly created a deceptive scheme to fund a lavish lifestyle at his employer’s expense,” said Mark Dargis, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division. “Today’s sentencing is a warning to other scam artists. The FBI and our partners will continue to aggressively pursue corporate fraud investigations to protect consumers from bearing the costs associated with criminal activity.”