The ‘Mental Demon’ That Fueled an Ex-N.F.L. Employee to Steal Millions

Feb. 2, 2023 started like every other morning for Amit Patel. He used to be sitting in his cubicle at the flooring ground of EverBank Stadium, house to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Patel, a supervisor within the group’s monetary division, used to be ultimate out the closing cycle of bills, as he did at first of every month.

When Jaguars leader monetary officer Mark Sirota requested Patel to return to Sirota’s administrative center, he concept it may well be to speak about a brand new challenge. But then Patel were given there and Sirota reduced his voice and requested Patel to close the door at the back of him. Sirota then advised Patel a delegation from NFL safety used to be in a collection upstairs ready to speak to him.

Sirota escorted Patel during the administrative center, then the bowels of the stadium. As they made their option to an elevator, Patel seemed again and noticed a contingent of human family members officers and group safety trailing them. When he arrived at the fourth ground and stepped into a collection, he used to be met via one of the crucial group’s legal professionals and 3 males in fits, certainly one of whom used to be sitting at the back of a computer.

“I already knew they had everything on the computer in front of them. My entire gambling history,” Patel, 31, advised The Athletic in an interview from his legal professional’s administrative center in Jacksonville closing week.

When the NFL safety group requested the place Patel were given the cash to put the bets they’d found out, he lied. He stated it used to be from circle of relatives wealth and cryptocurrency. When they requested whether or not they might have get entry to to his telephone and laptop, he seemed to the Jaguars’ attorney for recommendation, most effective to comprehend the attorney used to be there to offer protection to the group, no longer him. He passed his units over and the attorney took him for a stroll across the concourse. As they walked, Patel feverishly calculated what the ones safety officers may establish as they transferred information from his laptop and call.

When his boss later requested him for his password to the corporate’s digital bank card program, Patel knew it used to be over. He used to be stuck.

FBI investigators therefore found out that Patel, over a four-year length, had embezzled greater than $22 million from the Jaguars via developing fraudulent fees at the membership’s digital bank card after which masking his tracks via sending falsified recordsdata to the group’s accounting division. Patel’s legal professional stated the majority of what he stole he gambled away by way of on-line sports activities playing websites. The govt stated he extensively utilized the cash to fund a jet-set way of life and to buy automobiles, a condo, a fashion designer watch price over $95,000 and different extravagances.

Last Tuesday, in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Patel stood sooner than a pass judgement on, voice quivering, and stated he used to be “ashamed” of his movements. The prosecution requested for a sentence of 84 months, emphasizing the size of his fraud, the media consideration the case gained and the message it will ship to others who may “steal millions and live like a king.” Patel’s legal professional requested for probation, bringing up his consumer’s playing dependancy and next restoration efforts as causes for leniency.

Patel gained a 78-month sentence.

In his first interview since he pleaded to blame closing yr, Patel stated that once months of anticipation, dread and unease, he feels a way of aid to in any case face his punishment.

“I’m dealing with the consequences of something that happened a year and a half ago. I’ve been a completely different person since then through my recovery,” Patel stated. “I’m dealing with something that’s happened in the past when I was a different person.”

Patel had more or less two dozen family and friends available at his sentencing, a few of whom made statements vouching for his personality. His older brother stated he used to be the prototypical golden kid who excelled at sports activities and faculty most effective to be derailed via alcohol abuse and playing dependancy. His highschool instructor stated he used to be a “model student.” His female friend insisted he used to be a just right one that had taken accountability for his movements and dedicated to a lifetime of sobriety.

Government legal professionals described him as a fabulist who conned his corporate and loved the spoils. Court filings integrated photos of Patel partying at swanky inns, flying on non-public planes and flashing dear bottles of champagne. In that submitting, the prosecutor dealing with the case wrote that Patel endured to “enjoy the finer things” even after he used to be fired. Megha Parekh, the Jaguars leader prison recommend, issued a blistering evaluate of Patel, mentioning that his movements invited an inordinate quantity of scrutiny at the group and diverted key sources and time from present staff: “He was our teammate and he betrayed us.”

Those depictions, whilst reputedly against this, coexist in Patel’s retelling, and he ceaselessly toed the road between expressing regret for his movements and ascribing the ones movements to an issue outdoor his keep an eye on.

“I was battling with a secret addiction that nobody knew about,” Patel stated. “Everyone thought I was doing great, dandy. You know, on Instagram they see you having fun, you’re with your friends and family, but there’s a mental demon inside.”

Patel grew up in a strict family the place his folks, who immigrated from India, anticipated educational excellence from their two sons. He stated he used to be impacted very much via two losses previous in his existence: Patel’s father died of a center assault when Patel used to be 13, and certainly one of his perfect pals died in a automobile coincidence 9 years later when he used to be in faculty. By that point, Patel stated his ingesting, drug use and playing had been all-consuming.

But Patel additionally had an abundance of affection and make stronger coupled with ambition and alternative. He used to be, as the federal government legal professional described in court docket, an instance of the American Dream. Popular and in style amongst his classmates. Elected magnificence president on the Paxon School for Advanced Studies in Jacksonville. Captain of his highschool lacrosse group. And he had an entrepreneurial spirit, dabbling in e-commerce and aspect tasks that suffused him with money and freedom.

Like many of us his age, Patel used to be interested in playing right through the web poker growth of the early aughts and the ubiquity of delusion sports activities. He stated he first skilled the push of playing on a cruise commute to the Bahamas the summer time sooner than he left for varsity. The cruise featured a poker match and, regardless that his mother forbade him to go into as a result of he had up to now squandered cash on on-line poker via the usage of her bank card, his stepfather slipped him a $100 invoice.

A crowd shaped across the poker desk and he used to be in the midst of all of it, profitable the match and a $2,000 prize. He paid his mom again for a portion of the cruise and acquired his then-girlfriend a necklace. He later posed for an image with the cash splayed out on a desk and made that his Facebook profile avatar.

Patel enrolled at Florida State in 2010 however stated the combo of partying and playing led him to change from his main of selection (engineering) to one thing extra manageable (accounting). Poor grades triggered his switch to Flagler College as he prioritized playing over all else. He took a bus to an in-person poker match on the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, the place he completed fifteenth out of about 1,500 entrants, profitable virtually $7,500. But he used to be in a position to go back to FSU for an MBA. Out of school, he went to paintings for Deloitte, and whilst there he used his company bank card to fund his playing dependancy. But he have shyed away from bother as a result of his brother helped him pay it off.

In 2018, he landed his dream task with the Jaguars, a group he grew up supporting. By that time, he’d improved from enjoying delusion soccer to making a bet on baseball by way of offshore accounts to putting wagers on necessarily anything else he may just. “You wake up in the middle of the night and you’re betting on Turkish women’s volleyball,” he stated.

He’d forget about his mother’s calls, put out of your mind to comb his tooth, keep up overdue into the night time, continuously refreshing his telephone for ratings and highlights whilst his female friend slept subsequent to him. Once, in Las Vegas, he drove to the Nevada/Arizona border simply so he may just position a day-to-day delusion sports activities wager, which isn’t accepted in Nevada. When his checking account used to be low, he’d promote private pieces, donate plasma, take out payday loans or rustle up paintings doing mobile phone upkeep. There had been occasions he’d seek advice from the ATM a couple of occasions in an afternoon, depositing and depleting.

“The worst part is there’s always a win around the corner,” Patel stated. “And so that’s what you’re always chasing.”

In September 2019, Patel, then a mid-level worker with the Jaguars, used to be within the hollow from playing losses, his bank card maxed out. He used to be under the influence of alcohol, attempting to consider a option to dig himself out of debt and feeling the “itch.” That’s when he allowed himself to imagine the usage of budget from the corporate VCC program he controlled.

“I mean, the devil inside me is like let me just deposit $25,000 from the card. I’ll turn it into $50,000. I’ll put the $25,000 back,” Patel stated.

Given the extent of attrition and loss of oversight inside the Jaguars’ depleted accounting and finance division, the possibility of having stuck gave the impression low. In company finance, there’s a thought referred to as the fraud triangle: Opportunity. Incentive. Rationalization. Patel had all 3.

The hollow deepened as Patel’s playing losses fixed. And so he endured the usage of budget received from the Jaguars VCC program to put astronomical bets by way of FanDuel and DraftKings in hopes that he’d win large and save himself. Patel stated his VIP rep at FanDuel would upload 10 % to his account for each $600,000 he spent, along with access charges that had been refunded and shuttle perks he used to be comped. A spokesperson for FanDuel declined to remark as the corporate nonetheless considers the location an “ongoing matter.”

In the early days of the scheme, Patel would see an unannounced assembly put on his calendar and consider the group had discovered his subterfuge. As the years handed and his movements went undetected, that worry by no means abated, he stated, however he simply couldn’t forestall.

He’s no longer certain what tipped off NFL safety early in 2023. (Employees of NFL groups are forbidden from making a bet on video games.) But he recounted some brazen strikes he made within the months sooner than his termination. Twice, he wager at the Jaguars – as soon as whilst he used to be in Kansas City for a recreation towards the Chiefs — an $18,000 six-way parlay involving 5 UFC fights and the Jags masking the unfold. (The 5 fights went his means, he stated, however the Jags didn’t duvet.) Later, he stated he wager “a few hundred thousand dollars” on a Jaguars-Titans recreation, some other loss. He additionally attempted to withdraw cash from a twine to put bets via FanDuel, which brought on a notification from the anti-money laundering group on the website online. (He stated his account used to be suspended after he unsuccessfully replied questions in regards to the supply of his budget.)

“I was so far in the hole I was like ‘Maybe I can win a million really quick on this game and pay them back,’” he stated. “I was desperate.”

In the quick aftermath of having fired via the Jaguars, Patel didn’t forestall playing. Instead, he endured scrambling to check out to win and pay the group again. An absurd concept, he acknowledges now, bearing in mind the sum he owed.

Patel used to be in rehab by the point the FBI were given concerned. His legal professional referred him for alcohol and drug abuse, in addition to playing dependancy. He cooperated with the federal government’s investigation and in December 2023 pleaded to blame to fees of fraud and an unlawful financial transaction.

In the 99 days he spent in rehab, Patel stated he felt guilt and disgrace for the ache he brought about his family members, pals and coworkers. But he additionally felt thankful. “I was so glad to be out of that torturous, endless cycle in my head,” he stated.

Gambler’s Anonymous works in a similar fashion to Alcoholics Anonymous. You paintings the 12 steps. Identify the “character defects” that give a contribution to dependancy. Patel nonetheless battles the ones, with perfectionism and ego surfacing extra prevalently than he would really like.

He bristled on the advice that he used to be a neophyte and traditionally dangerous gambler, as one file advised. He used to be via information accounts that just one consumer attended his plea listening to in his protection. (He advised family and friends to not attend, he stated.) And he pushes again at the govt’s statement that he used to be pushed only via greed.

He contends that he purchased some luxurious pieces to turn for earnings to subsidize his playing, whilst additionally acknowledging that he used to be frittering away cash on a rustic membership club, spa services and products and extra. Though the vast majority of the cash he stole from the Jaguars ended up with FanDuel or DraftKings, the federal government contends that Patel transferred over $5 million to his PayPal and different monetary accounts.

He admits he loved the trimmings that got here with gaining access to thousands and thousands of bucks however stated the price of sure journeys and occasions had been reimbursed via the web making a bet websites, an incentive for him to proceed spending with them: “They just give you this illusion that you’re winning because they’re just making so much money off of you that they need to keep you happy and keep you gambling,” he stated.

Patel stated he nonetheless has urges to gamble — the newest one got here a couple of months in the past when he were given an e-mail from the Hard Rock Hotel Casino crew, commemorating the hole of its new sportsbook. Patel mentioned it within the GA assembly he arranged; the gang now meets frequently in an area church.

“Not everyone will get addicted to gambling,” Patel stated. “But everyone can get addicted.”

Patel will proceed remedy whilst incarcerated. He is slated to start his sentence inside the subsequent 90 days. His legal professional asked he be positioned on the federal facility closest to his circle of relatives in Jacksonville. When he will get out, he’ll be placed on a cost plan – $250 a month directed to the Jaguars. Both the prosecuting legal professional and the pass judgement on stated he’s not going to ever pay again all the sum he stole from the NFL franchise.

Said Patel: “I’ve just got to deal with these consequences and move on with my life and see how much I can use this to help a lot of other people.”

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; pictures: Don Juan Moore, Julio Aguilar, Perry Knotts, Don Juan Moore / Getty Images; courtesy of U.S. Attorney)