A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee is accused of using the company’s virtual credit card program to steal more than $22 million, spending it on personal purchases.
Those purchases included two cars, cryptocurrency and lavish vacations, according to court documents obtained by News4JAX.
According to a seven-page federal filing made by an organization referred to as “Business A,” Amit Patel worked for the organization and helped prepare monthly financial statements, oversaw department budgets and performed other administrative duties.
Business A is not named as the Jaguars in the document, but the Jaguars confirmed to The Athletic that it is the unnamed business in the court filing.
Patel is listed in the Jaguars 2022 Media Guide under the Finance and Business Planning department as a financial planning and analysis manager.
The federal document said Patel had access to the Jaguars’ virtual credit card (VCC) to make business-related purchases or cover business-related expenses. It was not meant for personal use, the document said.
According to the filing, Patel was the only person over the program beginning in October 2019.
Patel is accused of spending a little more than $22,221,000 in fraudulent VCC transactions from September 2019 to February 2023, when he was fired, the document said.
The filing accuses Patel of using the money to gamble online, purchase a condo in Ponte Vedra Beach, and pay for travel expenses for himself and his friends, which included private jets, luxury hotel stays and private home rentals.
The document says Patel also purchased a Tesla Model 3 and a Nissan pickup truck, hired a criminal defense lawyer, bought cryptocurrency, electronics, sports memorabilia, a country club membership, spa treatments, concert and sporting event tickets, home furnishings, and a $95,000 watch.
News4JAX has reached out to the Jaguars for a response, but ha not heard back.
According to the filing, Patel covered his tracks while working for the team by not accurately reporting his virtual credit card transactions and instead creating integration files containing false entries that he would email to the team’s accounting department.
It says he also found legitimate transactions and duplicated them.
Patel is charged with wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions. He opted to be charged by information, waiving the indictment.
News4jax is a Jacksonville Daily Record news partner