Amil Patel walks out of federal court on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. | News4Jax
Published on December 15, 2023 at 11:19 am
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ former financial manager pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of wire fraud and making illegal transactions and agreed to pay back $22 million that he stole, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Amit Patel, 31, also agreed to forfeit a condominium in Ponte Vedra Beach, a 2021 Telsa and a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch that he purchased or funded with the proceeds, prosecutors said in a news release.
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Patel still faces up to 30 years in prison when sentenced.
Prosecutors say Patel operated a fraud scheme as he served as the Jaguar’s business manager, where he was the administrator for its virtual credit card program.
He made hundreds of purchases and transactions with no legitimate business purpose, creating accounting files with false and fraudulent entries to hide the scheme, prosecutors said. Patel then emailed the false entries to the team’s accounting department using “a variety of methods to hide his illicit transactions by omitting them from the files,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
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Patel also identified legitimate reoccurring transactions such as catering, airfare and hotel charges, and then duplicated them as he inflated the amounts, prosecutors said.
“(He) entered completely fictitious transactions that might sound plausible, but that never actually occurred,” the news release said. “And he moved legitimate VCC charges from upcoming months into the month of the accounting file that was immediately due to the accounting department.”
Patel began making fraudulent transactions in September 2019, and continued until he was fired in February, prosecutors said. He used the proceeds, in whole or part, to place bets with online gambling websites.
Patel’s attorney has said he used the money almost exclusively for gambling and has received treatment for his addiction. But the U.S. attorney said the money also went to buy the Ponte Vedra Beach condominium and pay for personal travel for himself and friends on chartered private jets to luxury hotels and private rental homes.
Patel also used the money for a pickup truck, a criminal defense law firm and purchases of cryptocurrency, electronics, sports memorabilia, a country club membership and more, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
No sentencing date has been scheduled.
Lead image: Amil Patel walks out of federal court on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. | News4Jax
