Feb. 2, 2023 started like every other morning for Amit Patel. He was sitting in his cubicle on the bottom flooring of EverBank Stadium, dwelling to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Patel, a supervisor within the group’s monetary division, was closing out the final cycle of bills, as he did originally of every month.
When Jaguars chief monetary officer Mark Sirota requested Patel to return to Sirota’s workplace, he thought it could be to debate a brand new undertaking. However then Patel acquired there and Sirota lowered his voice and requested Patel to close the door behind him. Sirota then advised Patel a delegation from NFL safety was in a collection upstairs ready to speak to him.
Sirota escorted Patel by the workplace, then the bowels of the stadium. As they made their option to an elevator, Patel appeared again and noticed a contingent of human relations officers and group safety trailing them. When he arrived on the fourth flooring and stepped into a collection, he was met by one of many group’s attorneys and three males in fits, one among whom was sitting behind a laptop computer.
“I already knew they’d every little thing on the pc in entrance of them. My complete playing historical past,” Patel, 31, advised The Athletic in an interview from his legal professional’s workplace in Jacksonville final week.
When the NFL safety group requested the place Patel acquired the cash to put the bets they’d found, he lied. He stated it was from household wealth and cryptocurrency. Once they requested whether or not they may have entry to his cellphone and laptop, he appeared to the Jaguars’ lawyer for recommendation, solely to understand the lawyer was there to guard the group, not him. He handed his units over and the lawyer took him for a stroll across the concourse. As they walked, Patel feverishly calculated what these safety officers may determine as they transferred knowledge from his laptop and cellphone.
When his boss later requested him for his password to the corporate’s digital bank card program, Patel knew it was over. He was caught.
FBI investigators subsequently found that Patel, over a four-year interval, had embezzled greater than $22 million from the Jaguars by creating fraudulent costs on the membership’s digital bank card after which masking his tracks by sending falsified information to the group’s accounting division. Patel’s legal professional stated the overwhelming majority of what he stole he gambled away through on-line sports activities playing websites. The federal government stated he additionally used the cash to fund a jet-set life-style and to buy autos, a condominium, a designer watch price over $95,000 and different extravagances.
Final Tuesday, in U.S. District Court docket in Jacksonville, Patel stood earlier than a decide, voice quivering, and stated he was “ashamed” of his actions. The prosecution requested for a sentence of 84 months, emphasizing the dimensions of his fraud, the media consideration the case acquired and the message it will ship to others who may “steal tens of millions and reside like a king.” Patel’s legal professional requested for probation, citing his shopper’s playing dependancy and subsequent restoration efforts as causes for leniency.
Patel acquired a 78-month sentence.
In his first interview since he pleaded responsible final 12 months, Patel stated that after months of anticipation, dread and unease, he feels a way of reduction to lastly face his punishment.
“I’m coping with the implications of one thing that occurred a 12 months and a half in the past. I’ve been a totally completely different individual since then by my restoration,” Patel stated. “I’m coping with one thing that’s occurred prior to now once I was a distinct individual.”
Patel had roughly two dozen family and friends available at his sentencing, a few of whom made statements vouching for his character. His older brother stated he was the prototypical golden little one who excelled at sports activities and college solely to be derailed by alcohol abuse and playing dependancy. His highschool trainer stated he was a “mannequin pupil.” His girlfriend insisted he was an excellent one that had taken duty for his actions and dedicated to a lifetime of sobriety.
Authorities attorneys described him as a fabulist who conned his firm and loved the spoils. Court docket filings included footage of Patel partying at swanky accommodations, flying on non-public planes and flashing costly bottles of champagne. In that submitting, the prosecutor dealing with the case wrote that Patel continued to “benefit from the finer issues” even after he was fired. Megha Parekh, the Jaguars chief authorized counsel, issued a blistering evaluation of Patel, stating that his actions invited an inordinate quantity of scrutiny on the group and diverted key assets and time from present staff: “He was our teammate and he betrayed us.”
These depictions, whereas seemingly in distinction, coexist in Patel’s retelling, and he often toed the road between expressing regret for his actions and ascribing these actions to an issue exterior his management.
“I used to be battling with a secret dependancy that no person knew about,” Patel stated. “Everybody thought I used to be doing nice, dandy. You recognize, on Instagram they see you having enjoyable, you’re together with your family and friends, however there’s a psychological demon inside.”
Patel grew up in a strict family the place his mother and father, who immigrated from India, anticipated tutorial excellence from their two sons. He stated he was impacted significantly by two losses earlier in his life: Patel’s father died of a coronary heart assault when Patel was 13, and one among his finest associates died in a automotive accident 9 years later when he was in school. By that point, Patel stated his consuming, drug use and playing had been all-consuming.
However Patel additionally had an abundance of affection and assist coupled with ambition and alternative. He was, as the federal government legal professional described in court docket, an instance of the American Dream. Widespread and well-liked amongst his classmates. Elected class president on the Paxon Faculty for Superior Research in Jacksonville. Captain of his highschool lacrosse group. And he had an entrepreneurial spirit, dabbling in e-commerce and aspect tasks that suffused him with money and freedom.
Like many individuals his age, Patel was drawn to playing throughout the on-line poker growth of the early aughts and the ubiquity of fantasy sports activities. He stated he first skilled the frenzy of playing on a cruise journey to the Bahamas the summer time earlier than he left for school. The cruise featured a poker match and, although his mother forbade him to enter as a result of he had beforehand squandered cash on on-line poker by utilizing her bank card, his stepfather slipped him a $100 invoice.
A crowd shaped across the poker desk and he was in the midst of all of it, successful the match and a $2,000 prize. He paid his mom again for a portion of the cruise and purchased his then-girlfriend a necklace. He later posed for an image with the cash splayed out on a desk and made that his Fb profile avatar.
Patel enrolled at Florida State in 2010 however stated the mixture of partying and playing led him to change from his main of selection (engineering) to one thing extra manageable (accounting). Poor grades prompted his switch to Flagler School as he prioritized playing over all else. He took a bus to an in-person poker match on the Seminole Onerous Rock Lodge in Hollywood, Florida, the place he completed fifteenth out of about 1,500 entrants, successful nearly $7,500. However he was in a position to return to FSU for an MBA. Out of school, he went to work for Deloitte, and whereas there he used his company bank card to fund his playing behavior. However he prevented hassle as a result of his brother helped him pay it off.
In 2018, he landed his dream job with the Jaguars, a group he grew up supporting. By that time, he’d progressed from enjoying fantasy soccer to betting on baseball through offshore accounts to putting wagers on basically something he may. “You get up in the midst of the evening and also you’re betting on Turkish girls’s volleyball,” he stated.
He’d ignore his mother’s calls, neglect to brush his enamel, keep up late into the evening, continuously refreshing his cellphone for scores and highlights whereas his girlfriend slept subsequent to him. As soon as, in Las Vegas, he drove to the Nevada/Arizona border simply so he may place a each day fantasy sports activities guess, which isn’t permitted in Nevada. When his checking account was low, he’d promote private objects, donate plasma, take out payday loans or rustle up work doing cellphone repairs. There have been instances he’d go to the ATM a number of instances in a day, depositing and depleting.
“The worst half is there’s at all times a win across the nook,” Patel stated. “And in order that’s what you’re at all times chasing.”
In September 2019, Patel, then a mid-level worker with the Jaguars, was within the gap from playing losses, his bank card maxed out. He was drunk, attempting to consider a option to dig himself out of debt and feeling the “itch.” That’s when he allowed himself to think about using funds from the corporate VCC program he managed.
“I imply, the satan inside me is like let me simply deposit $25,000 from the cardboard. I’ll flip it into $50,000. I’ll put the $25,000 again,” Patel stated.
Given the extent of attrition and lack of oversight throughout the Jaguars’ depleted accounting and finance division, the prospect of getting caught appeared low. In company finance, there’s a idea referred to as the fraud triangle: Alternative. Incentive. Rationalization. Patel had all three.
The outlet deepened as Patel’s playing losses mounted. And so he continued utilizing funds obtained from the Jaguars VCC program to put astronomical bets through FanDuel and DraftKings in hopes that he’d win huge and save himself. Patel stated his VIP rep at FanDuel would add 10 p.c to his account for each $600,000 he spent, along with entry charges that had been refunded and journey perks he was comped. A spokesperson for FanDuel declined to remark as the corporate nonetheless considers the state of affairs an “ongoing matter.”
Within the early days of the scheme, Patel would see an unannounced assembly positioned on his calendar and imagine the group had found out his subterfuge. Because the years handed and his actions went undetected, that worry by no means abated, he stated, however he simply couldn’t cease.
He’s unsure what tipped off NFL safety early in 2023. (Workers of NFL groups are forbidden from betting on video games.) However he recounted some brazen strikes he made within the months earlier than his termination. Twice, he guess on the Jaguars – as soon as whereas he was in Kansas Metropolis for a recreation in opposition to the Chiefs — an $18,000 six-way parlay involving 5 UFC fights and the Jags masking the unfold. (The 5 fights went his means, he stated, however the Jags didn’t cowl.) Later, he stated he guess “a number of hundred thousand {dollars}” on a Jaguars-Titans recreation, one other loss. He additionally tried to withdraw cash from a wire to put bets by FanDuel, which triggered a notification from the anti-money laundering group on the website. (He stated his account was suspended after he unsuccessfully answered questions in regards to the supply of his funds.)
“I used to be to date within the gap I used to be like ‘Perhaps I can win one million actually fast on this recreation and pay them again,’” he stated. “I used to be determined.”
Within the fast aftermath of getting fired by the Jaguars, Patel didn’t cease playing. As a substitute, he continued scrambling to attempt to win and pay the group again. An absurd thought, he acknowledges now, contemplating the sum he owed.
Patel was in rehab by the point the FBI acquired concerned. His legal professional referred him for alcohol and drug abuse, in addition to playing dependancy. He cooperated with the federal government’s investigation and in December 2023 pleaded responsible to costs of fraud and an unlawful financial transaction.
Within the 99 days he spent in rehab, Patel stated he felt guilt and disgrace for the ache he brought on his family members, associates and coworkers. However he additionally felt grateful. “I used to be so glad to be out of that torturous, countless cycle in my head,” he stated.
Gambler’s Nameless works equally to Alcoholics Nameless. You’re employed the 12 steps. Determine the “character defects” that contribute to dependancy. Patel nonetheless battles these, with perfectionism and ego surfacing extra prevalently than he would really like.
He bristled on the suggestion that he was a neophyte and traditionally unhealthy gambler, as one report urged. He was bothered by information accounts that just one individual attended his plea listening to in his protection. (He advised family and friends to not attend, he stated.) And he pushes again on the federal government’s assertion that he was pushed solely by greed.
He contends that he purchased some luxurious objects to flip for income to subsidize his playing, whereas additionally acknowledging that he was frittering away cash on a rustic membership membership, spa providers and extra. Although nearly all of the cash he stole from the Jaguars ended up with FanDuel or DraftKings, the federal government contends that Patel transferred over $5 million to his PayPal and different monetary accounts.
He admits he loved the trimmings that got here with gaining access to tens of millions of {dollars} however stated the price of sure journeys and occasions had been reimbursed by the net betting websites, an incentive for him to proceed spending with them: “They only offer you this phantasm that you just’re successful as a result of they’re simply making a lot cash off of you that they should maintain you content and maintain you playing,” he stated.
Patel stated he nonetheless has urges to gamble — the latest one got here a number of months in the past when he acquired an e-mail from the Onerous Rock Lodge On line casino group, commemorating the opening of its new sportsbook. Patel talked about it within the GA assembly he organized; the group now meets commonly in a neighborhood church.
“Not everybody will get hooked on playing,” Patel stated. “However everybody can get addicted.”
Patel will proceed therapy whereas incarcerated. He’s slated to start his sentence throughout the subsequent 90 days. His legal professional requested he be positioned on the federal facility closest to his household in Jacksonville. When he will get out, he’ll be placed on a fee plan – $250 a month directed to the Jaguars. Each the prosecuting legal professional and the decide acknowledged he’s unlikely to ever pay again the whole sum he stole from the NFL franchise.
Mentioned Patel: “I’ve simply acquired to cope with these penalties and transfer on with my life and see how a lot I can use this to assist lots of different folks.”
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; pictures: Don Juan Moore, Julio Aguilar, Perry Knotts, Don Juan Moore / Getty Photos; courtesy of U.S. Lawyer)