Amit Patel’s Jaguars Case: $22M Theft, Sentence, and Lawsuits

Amit Patel, a former financial manager for the Jacksonville Jaguars, stole $22,221,454.40 from the team between 2019 and 2023 by manipulating its virtual credit card program, then lost roughly 99 percent of it gambling on FanDuel and DraftKings. In March 2024 a federal judge sentenced him to 78 months in prison and ordered $21.1 million in restitution. The Amit Patel Jaguars case has since expanded into a Florida state prosecution, a $66.6 million civil suit by the team, a partial settlement with FanDuel, and a $250 million countersuit Patel filed against FanDuel that a federal judge sent to arbitration in May 2026.

How Patel Stole $22 Million

Patel joined the Jaguars in 2018 and was promoted to manager of financial planning and analysis in 2021. Over time he became the sole administrator of the team’s virtual corporate card program. He could create user accounts, approve new cards, adjust credit limits, and classify transactions in the general ledger, all from the same seat.¹

Starting in the fall of 2019, he began falsifying the monthly “integration file” that the accounting department used to book virtual card transactions. He duplicated legitimate recurring expenses such as catering and airfare, inflated the dollar amounts of real charges, invented fictitious transactions that looked plausible on their face, and pulled valid charges forward from future months so his monthly totals still balanced.¹ The scheme ran until February 2023.²

Why It Went Undetected for Years

Turnover collapsed the safeguards that should have caught him. Patel’s direct supervisor left in October 2019, two other finance employees departed around the same time, and an accounting employee who had previously checked his work also left. Patel ended up holding roles that were meant to be separated.¹

Audits of the non-football business used sampling, not full transaction review. Because Patel’s fabricated paperwork lined up with the numbers he had entered, auditors found nothing to pull at. Accounting staff uploaded his files without granular verification, and the team had no automatic trigger to flag budget variances above a set threshold.¹

How the Scheme Came to Light

In February 2023, Patel placed a sports bet while in Kansas, violating both state law and the NFL’s gambling policy.³ The bet triggered an NFL investigation. The league interviewed Patel that month and referred the matter to the FBI.⁴ The Jaguars fired him the same month.⁵ After its review, the NFL said it “uncovered no evidence indicating any inside information was used or that any game was compromised in any way.”⁶

Where the Money Went

Patel’s defense attorney, Alex King, said about 99 percent of the stolen funds were lost gambling, almost entirely on FanDuel and DraftKings.⁷ Court filings showed he transferred roughly $20 million to FanDuel and $1 million to DraftKings, wagering under the username “ParlayPicker.”⁸ Daily fantasy players who knew the account described him as “the biggest loser ever on FanDuel,” with staking volume peaking in 2021 and 2022.

The rest went to luxury purchases. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Patel spent $95,000 on a wristwatch, more than $200,000 on golf memorabilia (including $47,114 for Tiger Woods’ 1996 U.S. Amateur champion putter), more than $77,000 at the Ponte Vedra Beach Inn and Club, $78,800 on private jet charters, and $278,000 on hotels and travel.⁹ A 2021 Tesla and a condominium in Ponte Vedra Beach were also identified for forfeiture.¹⁰

The Federal Sentence

Federal charges were filed on December 5, 2023, in the Middle District of Florida. Patel was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of engaging in an illegal monetary transaction, and he pleaded guilty that same month.¹¹ King argued that his client had a serious gambling addiction, comparing it to substance abuse, and called the theft a “misguided effort to pay back previous gambling losses.”¹² King said Patel entered inpatient rehabilitation for gambling addiction shortly after being fired and cooperated fully with the Jaguars, the FBI, and prosecutors.⁶

On March 12, 2024, U.S. District Senior Judge Henry Lee Adams Jr. sentenced Patel to 78 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. The court ordered $21,132,454.40 in restitution to the Jaguars, entered a forfeiture order of $22,221,454.40, and directed Patel to attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings.¹³

Florida State Charges

In July 2025, while Patel was serving his federal sentence at a prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama, Florida authorities returned him to Duval County for state charges. He was booked into the Duval County jail on July 8, 2025. The initial filing brought six counts of grand theft tied to two private jet trips ($35,900 for a flight to a Kansas City playoff game and $42,900 for a trip to the Pegasus World Cup) and to transfers from his PayPal account to his VyStar Credit Union account.¹⁴

The six grand theft counts were later dropped and replaced with a single count of organized fraud. At a September 2025 court appearance Patel pleaded not guilty and asked for a jury trial. A pretrial hearing was set for October 30, 2025.¹⁵

The Jaguars’ Civil Suit and FanDuel’s $5 Million

On July 18, 2024, the Jaguars sued Patel in Duval County Circuit Court for $66.6 million, three times the stolen amount as permitted under Florida’s civil theft statute. The complaint alleged fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, and civil theft.¹⁶ By mid-2024, the team had recovered only $261,232, from the sale of Patel’s Ponte Vedra Beach condominium.¹⁷

The Jaguars also went after FanDuel for reimbursement of the roughly $20 million Patel had wagered there. In early 2025 FanDuel agreed to pay the team about $5 million. Reporting indicated that the NFL encouraged a resolution and that FanDuel wanted to preserve its relationship with the league as an official betting partner.¹⁸ No comparable payment from DraftKings has been reported.

Patel’s $250 Million Lawsuit Against FanDuel

In October 2025, Patel filed his own $250 million lawsuit against FanDuel in the Southern District of New York, alleging the company preyed on his gambling addiction.¹⁹ The complaint alleged that FanDuel ignored its own responsible gambling and anti-money laundering protocols, knew he was a Jaguars employee and therefore ineligible to bet on the NFL, and knew the $20 million he wagered was not from a legitimate source.²⁰

According to the suit, a FanDuel VIP host named Brett Krause contacted Patel up to 100 times a day between 2021 and 2023, sometimes early in the morning or late at night, asking why he had not yet placed a bet. The complaint alleged Krause acknowledged they were “breaking AML” protocols and used a personal phone to avoid compliance staff.²⁰ The suit further alleged FanDuel gave Patel more than $1.1 million in gambling credits and provided trips to the College Football Playoff, the Masters, and the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.¹⁹

On May 7, 2026, U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick granted FanDuel’s motion to compel arbitration and stayed the case. The court found that Patel had agreed to binding arbitration and a class action waiver through FanDuel’s terms of use when he registered in 2014 and continued using the platform after updated terms in 2020.²¹ Judge Broderick rejected Patel’s argument that his claims fell outside the arbitration clause and found a clear connection between his use of the platform and the agreement’s coverage.²² The dispute now proceeds through JAMS arbitration, with the parties directed to file a joint status letter 120 days after the ruling.²³

What the Jaguars Changed

After firing Patel, the Jaguars said “no other team employees were involved in or aware of his criminal activity.”²⁴ Owner Shad Khan acknowledged that some of the conduct occurred while employees worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic but said the embezzlement was not “an organizational failure.”²⁵ The team then expanded its finance department by six employees, created a vice president of accounting and a senior manager of accounting, and hired outside law and accounting firms to review its financial controls.¹

1
The Athletic. Jacksonville Jaguars Amit Patel Credit Card Fraud
2
U.S. Department of Justice. Former Jacksonville Jaguars Employee Sentenced to More Than Six Years for Embezzling in Excess of $22 Million
3
ABC News. Jaguars Sue Amit Patel, Employee Who Stole Funds
4
WBAL-TV. Former Jaguars Financial Manager Pleads Guilty to Stealing Millions
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The Athletic. Jacksonville Jaguars Employee Theft Amit Patel
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The Athletic. Jaguars Amit Patel Betting Fantasy Losses
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ABC News. Jags Employee Theft Case High Stakes Daily Fantasy
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ESPN. Jaguars Employee Fraud Shows Dangers of Credit Card Betting
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USA Today. Federal Government Amit Patel Jacksonville Jaguars Stolen Funds
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Jacksonville.com. Photos Show Amit Patel the Jacksonville Jaguars Arrested Manager
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Jacksonville.com. Jacksonville Jaguars Employee Amit Patel Faces Sentence for Mass Fraud
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CNN. Former Jacksonville Jaguars Employee Stealing Gambling Addiction
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ESPN. Jacksonville Jaguars Amit Patel Sentenced Six and a Half Years
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Jacksonville.com. Ex-Jags Employee Amit Patel Charged Anew Over Plane Trips, Money Moves
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News4Jax. Ex-Jags Employee Serving 6.5 Years for Stealing From Team to Be Arraigned in Duval County on State Grand Theft Charges
16
The Athletic. Jaguars Sue Amit Patel
17
Jacksonville.com. Jaguars Sue Ex-Employee Amit Patel for $67 Million Over $22 Million Scam
18
New York Post. FanDuel to Pay Jaguars $5 Million for Money Stolen by Ex-Team Employee
19
CBS News. Amit Patel Lawsuit FanDuel Stole Jaguars Gambling
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ABC News. Jaguars Employee Amit Patel Sues FanDuel $250 Million
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Sportico. FanDuel Jaguars Executive Lawsuit Arbitration
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CaseMine. Patel v. Fan Duel Inc. et al
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PACER Monitor. Patel v. Fan Duel Inc. et al
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Jacksonville.com. Nate Monroe: Jaguars Dysfunction on Display in $22 Million Fraud Case
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Fox Sports. Jaguars Owner Shad Khan 2023 Collapse Organizational Failure