Confession in the USA: An ex-employee of the Jacksonville Jaguars admits to defrauding the team of more than 22 million dollars

An ex-employee of the Jacksonville Jaguars has admitted to embezzling more than 22 million US dollars from the team. According to “ESPN”, Amit Patel pleaded guilty in federal court to online fraud and illegal money transactions.

Accordingly, the former employee, who was fired by the NFL franchise earlier this year, is free on bail and will be sentenced at a later date.

Patel was in charge of the Jaguars’ virtual credit card program, which works like a traditional credit card account but without a physical credit card, for three years.

Prosecutors had accused Patel of stealing more than $22 million during his time as the Jaguars’ chief financial officer. He allegedly duplicated legal team expenses electronically and thus artificially inflated them.

According to court documents, he allegedly used the money to finance a life of luxury, including paying for a condominium and various luxury wristwatches.

Betting on NFL games with embezzled money?

The defendant’s attorney, however, said Patel used 99 percent of the money to feed his addiction to sports betting.

Both the league and the Jaguars said Patel had no inside information that he could have used for gambling purposes. According to “ESPN”, however, the ex-employee made various high-stakes NFL bets.