A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee is accused of embezzling more than $22 million by “exploiting the team’s virtual credit card program.” according to The Athletic.
Amit Patel stands accused of using funds embezzled from the program to purchase high-priced items such as automobiles, a designer watch, and a condominium. It is also alleged that Patel used the money for gambling and chartering private jets.
General view inside the stadium as Jacksonville Jaguars fans show their support with flags before the NFL match between Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on October 01, 2023, in London, England. (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
The Jaguars confirmed the charges against Patel in a statement to The Athletic.
“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, per TheAthletic.com. “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.”
The charges against Patel are one count of wire fraud and one count of illegal monetary transactions.
According to the court filing, Patel, who served as the team’s manager of financial planning and analysis, used “reoccurring VCC (virtual credit card) transactions, such as catering, airfare, and hotel charges, and then duplicated those transactions; he inflated the amounts of legitimate reoccurring transactions; he entered completely fictitious transactions that might sound plausible, but that never actually occurred.”
Court documents state that the alleged embezzlement occurred from 2019 until earlier this year.