More details keep surfacing regarding the major embezzling scandal with the Jacksonville Jaguars that keep making it more and more bizarre. Earlier this week the story broke that an employee of the team had stolen approximate $22 million from the team for lavish lifestyle expenditures and other personal expenses. Unfortunately, the story continues to get stranger as we’re approaching George Santos territory.
Jaguars Employee HAD to have been on a hot streak
Okay maybe comparing this unfortunate individual to arguably the biggest fraud in the history of the United States is a little bit of a stretch. After all, I bet weirder things like this happen in Florida every single day. It has come to light that not only did Amit Patel (the employee accused of the theft) steal $22 million, but it has been revealed that he allegedly spent “almost the entirety” of the sum on sports gambling websites.
In a borderline O.J. Simpson-level defense, Patel’s attorney made a statement today that Patel was not some petty criminal who took the cash home and buried it in his backyard.
![BREAKING: Jaguars Employee Accused of Embezzling $22 Million Blew "Almost the Entirelty" on Sports Gambling Sites 2 A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee is accused of stealing more than $22 million from the team](https://gridironheroics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG_0335-300x169.jpeg)
Instead, the attorney asserted that Patel had spent “approximately 99%”of the money that he stole from the teams virtual credit card program on sports gambling websites such as FanDuel and DraftKings to try to dig himself out of insurmountable debt.
The lawyers full statement can be read below:
“Almost the entirety of the funds Mr. Patel used from the VCC were spent on the gambling websites and efforts to win money back, anticipating that he would repay the funds with the winnings and make the Jaguars whole,” King said via The Athletic. “Unfortunately, Mr. Patel’s compulsive gambling only exacerbated the situation, and he continued to misappropriate funds in an effort to have gambling winnings offset his significant losses.”
When the original article broke, most people jumped to the conclusion that Patel was just your classic con artist. Now, his attorney is trying to play the sympathy card to try to establish that this insane embezzlement attempt stemmed from a mental illness.
Patel started his career with Jacksonville four years ago and rose from the level of coordinator to the manager of financial planning and analysis. Prior to his termination in February, Patel was in charge of writing the team’s monthly financial statements and department budgets while also being the administrator for the exact program that he scammed.
While the leagues concern is based on the fact that Patel may have used inside information as a member of the Jacksonville organization to place his bets, no one seems to be asking obvious questions regarding his finances. For example, a major corporation like an NFL franchise should certainly run background checks on high level employees and would have certainly noticed that he paid off his debt.
Another serious problem with the lawyers argument is that he started gambling to earn the money back that he had already spent on lavish lifestyle purchases. I don’t necessarily buy the gambling defense if you only started gambling in an attempt to cover up your crimes. The story doesn’t seem to line up and therefore, I think its safe to say that something deeper is in play here.
A part of me sympathizes for the man who is facing extremely serious charges but this also has a Wolf of Wall Street vibe where he was living like an absolute king for a long time. This is certainly a complicated story and most likely will only get more complicated from here. Florida at its finest!
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