JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former Jaguars employee Amit Patel was sentenced Tuesday to 6.5 years in federal prison after he admitted to stealing more than $22 million from the team over three years.
Federal prosecutors say Patel, 31, used the stolen millions to live a “life of luxury” that included lavish trips on private jets, a country club membership, a luxury watch, and Jaguars and sports memorabilia worth tens of thousands of dollars. They asked the court to sentence Patel to seven years in prison.
But Patel’s attorneys argued that the vast majority of the money stolen from the Jaguars fueled Patel’s online gambling addiction and asked for a lighter sentence.
The judge sentenced Patel to 78 months in prison plus three years of supervised release following his prison time.
Patel, who pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions, could have been sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
Mark Dargis, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division, released this statement after Patel was sentenced:
“This case exemplifies the FBI’s relentless effort to protect American companies and their customers. Amit Patel knowingly and wittingly created a deceptive scheme to fund a lavish lifestyle at his employer’s expense, and 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.”
Prosecutors said Patel spent more than $5 million of the stolen money on “personal expenses,” and released a long list of items purchased by Patel, along with photos of him on vacation.
Here are some of the places Patel made the largest purchases, in approximate amounts, according to prosecutors:
- Restaurants/Bars: $25,000
- Financial/Cryptocurrency: $2,100,000
- Individuals: $1,000,000
- The Golf Auction, LLC: $201,000
- eBay: $140,000
- Ponte Vedra Inn & Club: $78,000
- Entertainment: $300,000 (including $69,000 on Ticketmaster and $63,000 on StubHub)
- FBO Jets: $78,800
- Hotels.com: $40,000
- Delta: $30,000
- Vrbo: $17,500
- Legal Fees: $275,000
- Tesla: $50,000
- BestBet: $34,000
Patel’s attorney said his client suffers addictions to gambling, alcohol and drugs but has worked hard to turn his life around, getting sober, going to meetings, and even starting a gamblers anonymous chapter in Jacksonville Beach.
Patel told the court Tuesday, in front of friends and family who packed the courtroom to support him, he was “sickened with shame,” saying he can never fully convey how sorry he is to those he hurt. He said his sobriety has given him clarity, and he is committed to use his story to help others who are struggling.
The court also ordered Patel to pay more than $21 million in restitution, paying $250 a month once he’s released from prison. Patel’s attorney in court suggested his client was spending so much money on stuff so he could resell it to keep gambling.
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The scheme
Prosecutors said Patel used his role as the administrator for the Jaguars’ virtual credit card program to make hundreds of purchases and transactions with no legitimate business purpose. Then, to hide and continue to operate the scheme, he created and emailed falsified accounting records to Jaguars representatives, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Patel transferred more than $17 million straight from the Jaguars VCC account to his PayPal account and directly transferred another $2.8 million and $1 million to FanDuel and DraftKings, respectively.
Patel’s attorney said Patel had a gambling addiction, and ESPN reported that Patel was known as “the biggest loser ever on FanDuel.”
Prosecutors noted that Patel claimed that the only reason his scheme was not detected over the three and a half years he was doing it was because nobody at the Jaguars reviewed the credit card statements or adequately supervised him.
“This is victim-blaming at its worst,” prosecutors said. “As the MBA-trained, financial professional and the administrator of his employer’s credit card program, the defendant was the one minding the till. He was best positioned to spot the fraud. He had an obligation to structure the program to prevent losses. Instead, using insider information, he identified a vulnerability and exploited it. He stole from the company hundreds of times and went to elaborate lengths to cover it up for several years.”
