Former Jacksonville Jaguars financial planning and analysis manager Amit Patel is facing 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to ripping off the company.
After Patel’s court document became public, News4JAX turned to University of North Florida business school professors Mark Dawson and Leah Muriel for analysis on how these missing millions could have been overlooked.
In federal court Thursday, Patel admitted to making hundreds of fraudulent transactions using his employers’ virtual credit card program — spending more than $22 million of the embezzled money on gambling, jet rides, luxury vacations, a country club membership, a country club membership, cryptocurrency, watches, and more.
He also admitted to forging hundreds of expenses in Excel spreadsheets he submitted to the accounting department every month from the fall of 2019 to February 2023.
“A couple things that stood out to me. Of course, there’s certainly a lot more information than whatever is put in this document, but just seeing that this person, Mr. Patel, had such authority and could create the documentation, it seemed like he was approving everything, but there wasn’t much monitoring that I could tell from this document. It said he was like, the sole approver of these credit card expenses,” Muriel said.
Professor Dawkins said someone should have been checking receipts.
“They should have had oversight for the expenses,” Dawkins said.
The plea agreement reveals in November of last year, Patel made $5.6 million worth of fraudulent transactions, and because it nearly exceeded the credit limit, he just got the bank to increase the limit to $7.25 million.
According to Patel’s attorney, his client gambled away most of the money. He said Patel has a serious gambling addiction for which he’s been in treatment, and he apologizes for his conduct.
MORE | Jags employee charged with stealing $22M gambled away 99% of funds, plans guilty plea, lawyer says
Two sources told the News4JAX I-TEAM that the Jaguars weren’t aware of the missing money until online gambling company Fan Duel reached out.
Patel has agreed to pay back the $22 million. He is currently out on bond.
Last week, a spokesperson for the Jaguars said Patel did not have access to confidential football information and an investigation from outside firms found no other employees were involved in this criminal activity.
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