Getty Image / Perry Knotts
NFL teams are big business. But, even for them, tens of millions of dollars is still quite a bit of money. Still, one former Jacksonville Jaguars employee allegedly managed to steal over $20 million from the team over five years, a remarkable sum.
The Athletic reported that documents in Federal Court were fired today regarding the case, putting the situation in the spotlight. Here is The Athletic with more details.
“A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee is accused of stealing more than $22 million from the franchise from 2019 to 2023 by exploiting the organization’s virtual credit card program, and he used that money to buy, among other items, two vehicles, a condominium and a designer watch worth over $95,000. Some of that money was also allegedly used to purchase cryptocurrency and place bets with online gambling sites.
Amit Patel, who worked for the Jaguars for five years starting in 2018, is named in court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Fla. earlier this week. The Jaguars were not named in the federal filing – the organization was referred to as “Business A” – but the team confirmed it was the victim of Patel’s alleged crimes.
“We can confirm that in February 2023, the team terminated the employment of the individual named in the filing,” the team said in a statement. “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. 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.”
Again, all details are according to federal court filings, and Patel is presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law by his peers.
His scheme was pretty simple. To sum it up succinctly, Patel had access to company cards, and used that access to mirror transactions on the virtual credit cards for his own benefit. He bought a few cars, including a Tesla, two condos, and even placed bets with the $22 million.
The Jaguars have to get some better financial oversight. This wasn’t a guy skimming a few thousand here or there. He was skimming a quarterback’s salary worth of money!
Needless to say, it seems this guy is headed for a long stay in federal prison if these allegations are indeed correct.