Former Jaguars employee accused of stealing more than $22 million from team
Former Jaguars employee accused
theathletic: A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee is accused of stealing more than $22 million from the franchise from 2019 to 2023 by exploiting the organization’s virtual credit card program, and he used that money to buy, among other items, two vehicles, a condominium and a designer watch worth over $95,000. Some of that money was also allegedly used to purchase cryptocurrency and place bets with online gambling sites.
who worked for the Jaguars for five years starting in 2018, is named in court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Fla. earlier this week. The Jaguars were not named in the federal filing – the organization was referred to as “Business A” – but the team confirmed it was the victim of Patel’s alleged crimes.
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“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. “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.”
An NFL spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Patel’s attorney did not immediately respond to an interview request. The assistant U.S. Attorney handling the case also did not respond to a message left with his office.
Patel is listed in the Jaguars’ media guides from 2018-2022. His titles during those years were coordinator, financial planning and analysis, and then manager, financial planning and analysis. The court filing states that he was fired in February 2023.
Before his exit, Patel oversaw the company’s monthly financial statements and department budgets and served as the club’s administrator of its virtual credit card (VCC) program, which allowed certain authorized employees to “request VCC’s for business-related purchases or expenses,” according to the filing.
His authority over the VCC program enabled Patel to, beginning in September 2019, allegedly make fraudulent transactions. The court filing states that he hid those transactions by identifying “reoccurring VCC 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.”
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The court filing states that Patel “used the proceeds of this scheme, in whole or part, to place bets with online gambling websites; to purchase a condominium in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida; to pay for personal travel for himself and friends (including chartering private jets and booking luxury hotels and private rental residences); to acquire a new Tesla Model 3 sedan and Nissan pickup truck; to lodge a retainer with a criminal defense law firm; and to purchase cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens, electronics, sports memorabilia, a country club membership, spa treatments, concerts and sporting event tickets, home furnishings and luxury wrist watches.”
It is not stated in the court filing what Patel allegedly bet on with the online gambling sites. Asked if the team wished to comment on that allegation, a Jaguars spokesperson declined.
Patel was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of illegal monetary transaction. If convicted, Patel may be required to forfeit property “in the amount of at least $22,221,454.40, which represents the proceeds of the offense” in addition to assets purchased or funded with the proceeds of the offenses and/or involved in an illegal monetary transaction,” the filing states.
In a filing Tuesday, Patel’s attorney filed a waiver of indictment in which Patel waived prosecution by indictment and consented that “the proceeding may be by Information rather than Indictment.”