Inside look at how former Jacksonville Jaguars employee stole over $22M from the team

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An inside look at how over $22 million was stolen from the Jacksonville Jaguars, all done by its own, now former employee.

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Amit Patel was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison, paying the price for stealing money to fund a lavish life.

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The way the scheme and fraud was described as sophisticated

“It was unique because the organization he represented,” Special Agent Lani Rosado-Espinal said.

Patel oversaw the Jaguars virtual credit card program and took advantage for personal gain. Prosecutors said he put money into everything, from sports betting websites, trips around the world with private jets to golf memorabilia.

The case was prosecuted by US attorneys and Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigations, Lani Rosado-Espinal, said the US Department of Treasury oversaw some of case when they learned taxes and money were involved. Attorneys said Patel covered his tracks by creating false accounting records.

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“So what he did was he created, falsified general ledger and able to use multiple transactions such as if there was legitimate expense, he would inflate it. If there was an expense due this month or following month, he’d make it due for this month,” she said. “He would enter false transactions that seem plausible and legitimate but in reality, those transactions didn’t occur.”

Court documents revealed Patel took the money from the virtual credit card program, used it to gamble on sports betting websites, then moved money into his PayPal account, which made its way to his personal accounts and expenses. It happened all while keeping payments under the card’s limit so that his scheme could go undetected. Rosado-Espinal said Patel manipulated the very system he oversaw.

“Whatever he purchased matched whatever he was telling accounting department to pay,” she said.

The fraud went on for over three years. Rosado-Espinal said Patel’s position made it difficult to uncover his crimes.

RELATED: Private jets, Ponte Vedra Inn and Club: How former Jaguars employee Amit Patel stole $22M, spent it

“He was the sole administrator and when you’re the sole administrator and there’s no checks and balances in place, those things can go under the radar for quite a bit,” she said.

Patel’s attorneys said in documents he had a life full of trauma, including the murder of his uncle by a Neo-Nazi, death of his father and racial discrimination that led to smoking weed and drinking and to online gambling.

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After he serves his sentence he has to three years of probation and the judge ordered him to attend gamblers anonymous meetings and he can’t open new lines of credit.

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