A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who embezzled more than $22 million from the team has been sentenced to prison for fraud.
Amit Patel was facing up to 30 years in federal prison when he pleaded guilty to felony charges of wire fraud and illegal monetary transaction in December 2023. Instead, he was sentenced to 6.5 years on Tuesday.
While working for the NFL franchise, Patel held a number of roles in its financial planning and analysis department between 2018 until he was fired in February 2023. Using his access to the team’s virtual credit card system, he altered financial documents, duplicated legitimate transactions and invented others to line his pockets.
He used some of the money to buy a Tesla Model 3 sedan, a Nissan pickup truck, memorabilia, a condo in swanky Ponte Vedra Beach and a $95,000 designer watch, among other things, including a retainer for a criminal defense law firm. He also used ill-gotten funds to charter private jets, buy cryptocurrency, place large wagers on sporting events and otherwise fund a lavish lifestyle.
All told, he admitted to stealing $22,221,454.40 from the team.
As part of his sentence, Patel must repay more than $21 million and attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings, according to a spokesperson in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
“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,” Mark Dargis, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division said.
