A former high-ranking Jaguars employee stole more than $22 million from the team from 2019 to 2023 in order to online gamble and purchase homes and cryptocurrency, among other things, according to court documents filed earlier this week.
The documents filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville allege that Amit Patel — who ended his stint at the Jaguars in Feb. 2023 as the manager of financial planning and analysis — purchased a condominium in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, chartered private jets and booked luxury hotels and private hotel residences, bought a Tesla and Nissan pickup truck and various other goods by exploiting the team's virtual credit card program.
The Athletic was the first to report this news.
Patel oversaw the Jaguars' monthly financial statements and was the administrator of its credit card program, which allowed high-ranking employees to request money for "business-related purchases or expenses," the court documents said.
The court documents indicate that he used this position to exploit the funds, "inflat[ing] the amounts of legitimate reoccurring transactions … entered completely fictitious transactions that may sound plausible, but that never actually occurred."
Patel was fired in Feb. 2023, 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," the Jaguars said in a statement to The Athletic. "As was made clear in the charges, this individual … took advantage of his trusted position to covertly and intentionally commit significant fraudulent financial activity at the team's expense for personal benefit. … No other team employees were involved in or aware of his criminal activity.
