Amit Patel, a former Jacksonville Jaguars employee, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison on Tuesday in connection with a brazen scheme where he stole $22 million dollars from the NFL franchise to fund his gambling addiction.
U.S. District Judge Henry L. Adams ordered Patel to pay full restitution to the Jaguars for committing wire fraud and engaging in an illegal monetary transaction. Patel, 31, served as the Jaguars' financial manager for several years through 2023. The federal judge also ordered Patel to seek treatment for gambling addiction.
“I stand before you embarrassed, shamed, and disappointed by my actions,”'said Patel, during Tuesday's hearing.
The scheme
As an administrator for the Jaguars' virtual credit card (VCC) program, Patel used his position to make hundreds of purchases and transactions with no legitimate business purpose, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida. At one point, Patel admitted to investigators that he “artificially inflated,” legitimate expenses and also generated fictitious ones.