OAN’s James Meyers
9:54 AM – Thursday, December 7, 2023
An ex-employee of the Jacksonville Jaguars has been charged for stealing $22 million from the team and spending it on luxurious items such as cars, a condo, a $95,000 watch and more.
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According to documents filed on Monday in the Jacksonville division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Amit Patel held sole authority of the ability to approve charges to the team’s virtual credit card, which is a charge account that does not require a physical credit card.
According to prosecutors, Patel made $22.2 million in charges dating back to September 2019 up to his termination in February of this year, which he altered documents in an attempt to cover up the charges. He has been charged with wire fraud and making an illegal monetary transaction.
Additionally, Patel was only allowed to use the credit card for business expenses but charged the franchise for other luxurious items. The items include a condo valued at $265,830, a Tesla Model 3 Sedan, cryptocurrencies, gambling, NFTs, private jet travel, private residence rentals, and the retainer fee for a criminal defense law firm among other things.
It is alleged that in order to avoid being detected of the large transactions, Patel created an elaborate scheme to siphon money.
“For example, to hide his fraudulent VCC transactions, the defendant identified legitimate reoccurring VCC transactions, such as catering, airfare, and hotel charges, and then duplicated those transactions,” according to the the court documents.
“He inflated the amounts of legitimate reoccurring VCC transactions; he entered completely fictious transactions that might sound plausible, but that never actually occurred; and he moved legitimate VCC chargers from upcoming months into the month of the integration file that was immediately due to the accounting department.”
The Jaguars hired Patel in 2018 as coordinator, financial planning and analysis. He later became a manager in the same department.
Meanwhile, Patel waived his right to an indictment and the case will continue based on the sworn information filed by federal prosecutors.
The team has also said that they are cooperating with the FBI, and that law enforcement has determined no other employees were involved in the alleged scheme.
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