Feb. 2, 2023 started like some other morning for Amit Patel. He was sitting in his cubicle on the bottom flooring of EverBank Stadium, house to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Patel, a supervisor within the crew’s monetary division, was closing out the final cycle of bills, as he did at the start of every month.
When Jaguars chief monetary officer Mark Sirota requested Patel to come back to Sirota’s workplace, he thought it is perhaps to debate a brand new mission. However then Patel bought there and Sirota lowered his voice and requested Patel to close the door behind him. Sirota then informed Patel a delegation from NFL safety was in a collection upstairs ready to speak to him.
Sirota escorted Patel by means of the workplace, then the bowels of the stadium. As they made their option to an elevator, Patel regarded again and noticed a contingent of human relations officers and crew safety trailing them. When he arrived on the fourth flooring and stepped into a collection, he was met by one of many crew’s legal professionals and three males in fits, considered one of whom was sitting behind a laptop computer.
“I already knew they’d every thing on the pc in entrance of them. My complete playing historical past,” Patel, 31, informed The Athletic in an interview from his legal professional’s workplace in Jacksonville final week.
When the NFL safety crew requested the place Patel bought 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 might have entry to his cellphone and pc, he regarded to the Jaguars’ lawyer for recommendation, solely to comprehend the lawyer was there to guard the crew, 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 establish as they transferred information from his pc 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 expenses on the membership’s digital bank card after which protecting his tracks by sending falsified recordsdata to the crew’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 way of life and to buy automobiles, a condominium, a designer watch price over $95,000 and different extravagances.
Final Tuesday, in U.S. District Courtroom 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 could ship to others who may “steal thousands and thousands and stay 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 yr, Patel stated that after months of anticipation, dread and unease, he feels a way of aid to lastly face his punishment.
“I’m coping with the implications of one thing that occurred a yr and a half in the past. I’ve been a totally totally different individual since then by means of my restoration,” Patel stated. “I’m coping with one thing that’s occurred up to now after I was a unique individual.”
Patel had roughly two dozen family and friends readily available at his sentencing, a few of whom made statements vouching for his character. His older brother stated he was the prototypical golden baby who excelled at sports activities and college solely to be derailed by alcohol abuse and playing dependancy. His highschool instructor stated he was a “mannequin scholar.” His girlfriend insisted he was an excellent one who 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. Courtroom filings included footage of Patel partying at swanky accommodations, flying on personal 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 sources 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 regularly toed the road between expressing regret for his actions and ascribing these actions to an issue outdoors 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 understand, 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 dad and mom, who immigrated from India, anticipated educational excellence from their two sons. He stated he was impacted enormously by two losses earlier in his life: Patel’s father died of a coronary heart assault when Patel was 13, and considered one of his greatest associates died in a automotive accident 9 years later when he was in faculty. By that point, Patel stated his consuming, drug use and playing had been all-consuming.
However Patel additionally had an abundance of affection and help coupled with ambition and alternative. He was, as the federal government legal professional described in court docket, an instance of the American Dream. Fashionable and well-liked amongst his classmates. Elected class president on the Paxon College for Superior Research in Jacksonville. Captain of his highschool lacrosse crew. And he had an entrepreneurial spirit, dabbling in e-commerce and facet tasks that suffused him with money and freedom.
Like many individuals his age, Patel was drawn to playing throughout the on-line poker increase of the early aughts and the ubiquity of fantasy sports activities. He stated he first skilled the push 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 fashioned across the poker desk and he was in the course of all of it, profitable 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 modify 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 Exhausting Rock Resort in Hollywood, Florida, the place he completed fifteenth out of about 1,500 entrants, profitable 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 crew he grew up supporting. By that time, he’d progressed from taking part in fantasy soccer to betting on baseball through offshore accounts to inserting wagers on basically something he might. “You get up in the course of the evening and also you’re betting on Turkish ladies’s volleyball,” he stated.
He’d ignore his mother’s calls, overlook to brush his enamel, keep up late into the evening, consistently 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 might place a each day fantasy sports activities guess, which isn’t permitted in Nevada. When his checking account was low, he’d promote private gadgets, donate plasma, take out payday loans or rustle up work doing cellular phone 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 all the time a win across the nook,” Patel stated. “And in order that’s what you’re all the time 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, making an attempt to think about 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 inside the Jaguars’ depleted accounting and finance division, the prospect of getting caught appeared low. In company finance, there’s a idea known 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 % 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 scenario an “ongoing matter.”
Within the early days of the scheme, Patel would see an unannounced assembly positioned on his calendar and imagine the crew had discovered 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 towards the Chiefs — an $18,000 six-way parlay involving 5 UFC fights and the Jags protecting the unfold. (The 5 fights went his means, he stated, however the Jags didn’t cowl.) Later, he stated he guess “just a few hundred thousand {dollars}” on a Jaguars-Titans recreation, one other loss. He additionally tried to withdraw cash from a wire to put bets by means of FanDuel, which triggered a notification from the anti-money laundering crew on the web site. (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 1,000,000 actually fast on this recreation and pay them again,’” he stated. “I used to be determined.”
Within the quick 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 crew again. An absurd concept, he acknowledges now, contemplating the sum he owed.
Patel was in rehab by the point the FBI bought 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 expenses 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, limitless cycle in my head,” he stated.
Gambler’s Nameless works equally to Alcoholics Nameless. You’re employed the 12 steps. Establish the “character defects” that contribute to dependancy. Patel nonetheless battles these, with perfectionism and ego surfacing extra prevalently than he would love.
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 informed 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 gadgets 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 the vast majority 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 thousands and thousands of {dollars} however stated the price of sure journeys and occasions had been reimbursed by the web betting websites, an incentive for him to proceed spending with them: “They only provide you with this phantasm that you just’re profitable as a result of they’re simply making a lot cash off of you that they should maintain you cheerful and maintain you playing,” he stated.
Patel stated he nonetheless has urges to gamble — the latest one got here just a few months in the past when he bought an electronic mail from the Exhausting Rock Resort 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 an area 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 inside 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 cost plan – $250 a month directed to the Jaguars. Each the prosecuting legal professional and the decide acknowledged he’s unlikely to ever pay again all the sum he stole from the NFL franchise.
Stated Patel: “I’ve simply bought to take care of these penalties and transfer on with my life and see how a lot I can use this to assist a number of different individuals.”
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; pictures: Don Juan Moore, Julio Aguilar, Perry Knotts, Don Juan Moore / Getty Pictures; courtesy of U.S. Lawyer)
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