Although they are a much better franchise of late than they had been for the better part of two decades, the Jacksonville Jaguars rarely cut through into national news quite like this. Apparently, a former employee of theirs by the name of Amit Patel is being accused of embezzling some $22 million over the time of his employment from 2019 to 2023. $22 million?! That is so much money!!!
Kayln Kahler and Katie Strang broke it down in their combined feature for The Athletic. In layman's terms, Patel exploited the franchise's credit card system to steal money from the Jaguars. Although Jacksonville is not named in the lawsuit, referred to as Business A, the Jaguars are listed as one of the victims in this rampant embezzlement. What Patel allegedly bought should have you speechless.
Per Kahler and Strang's reporting, "[Patel] used that money to buy, among other items, two vehicles, a condominium and a designer watch worth over $95,000. Some of that money was also allegedly used to purchase cryptocurrency and place bets with online gambling sites." These are the type of financial shenanigans that will put you behind bars for years. All of these purchases leave paper trails.
Shahid Khan may be a billionaire owner, but having millions stolen out from under him is so awful...
Jacksonville Jaguars had millions embezzled by one former employee
Jacksonville provided Kahler and Strang the following information about these alleged crimes.
“We can confirm that in February 2023, the team terminated the employment of the individual named in the filing. Over the past several months we have cooperated fully with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida during their investigation and thank them for their efforts in this case. As was made clear in the charges, this individual was a former manager of financial planning and analysis who took advantage of his trusted position to covertly and intentionally commit significant fraudulent financial activity at the team’s expense for personal benefit. This individual had no access to confidential football strategy, personnel or other football information. The team engaged experienced law and accounting firms to conduct a comprehensive independent review, which concluded that no other team employees were involved in or aware of his criminal activity.”
Patel took complete advantage of his trusted position within the organization on the financial side of things. Not to say that Jacksonville was negligent in this, because embezzlement is a long-term stealing tactic that can be so difficult to uncover and prove, but you have to remember the transitions the franchise under went from the time of Patel's employment in 2019 until his Feb. 2023 termination.
2019 was two coaching administrations ago. Doug Marrone was still in charge and Urban Meyer had only just stepped down as the head coach of Ohio State. Jacksonville was a pitiful football operation in the wane of Tom Coughlin's controversial tenure as an executive vice president. It was not until Jacksonville hired Doug Pederson to coach Trevor Lawrence did the Jaguars' fortunes start to turn.
While there is no right way to commit white-collar crime, going about it like a complete and total financial bro as Patel seems to have done offers short-term gains, but horrendous long-term returns. You will get caught if you are stealing money or cooking the books. Oftentimes, embezzlements of this scale can ruin previously well-run corporations. Thankfully, the Jaguars are part of the NFL world.
Expect for Khan to put a greater deal of emphasis on the financial side of things to counterbalance.