An ex-employee of the Jacksonville Jaguars stole $22m from the NFL team and spent it on luxury items including a condo, a Tesla electric vehicle and a $95,000 watch, according to prosecutors.
But lawyers for Amit Patel say that their client actually spent the money on gambling websites to try and pay off wagering debts he had amassed while working for the Florida team.
Mr Patel had charges against him filed by the US Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida on 5 December. He is charged with wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions, according to court filings.
Mr Patel used a VCC, or a virtual credit card, owned by the company to access their funds, prosecutors wrote in their filing.
Court filings say Mr Patel accrued $22,221,454.40 in fraudulent VCC charges and used the funds to purchase the high-end items.
Mr Patel was fired from the team in February 2023 and the US attorney’s office began investigating him soon after, First Coast News reported.
Mr Patel plans to enter a guilty plea, his attorney Alex King said in a statement to The Independent.
However, Mr King says his client “suffers from a severe gambling addiction” and used funds from the VCC on gambling websites, rather than to purchase high-end commodities.
“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,” stated Mr King.
“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.”
“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 King added.
Mr Patel is “deeply remorseful” for his actions and is seeking ongoing treatment for his gambling addiction, according to Mr King.
