Posted on 02/02/2024 11:15:36 AM PST by nickcarraway
The Jacksonville Jaguars have asked FanDuel to reimburse them for some or all of the approximately $20 million in stolen proceeds a former employee lost on the site, but the company is unwilling to pay, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN.
Amit Patel, a midlevel finance manager, has pleaded guilty to stealing $22 million through a virtual credit card system the Jaguars used for expenses. Sources with knowledge of the case told ESPN that Patel lost about $20 million of the funds on daily fantasy and sports bets at FanDuel, which had assigned him a VIP host. He lost about $1 million on DraftKings, sources said.
About this report This story was reported by ESPN's Xuan Thai, Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham.
Patel transferred money directly from the team credit card to FanDuel, sources said.
The source familiar with the situation said discussions are ongoing among FanDuel, the Jaguars and the NFL on what the source called "a settlement." However, the source said, "The way they see it ... we got this money fair and clear. It's not our problem that we have to forfeit it back to you."
"I would be gobsmacked if it happened," the source added.
FanDuel and the NFL declined to comment. The Jaguars did not respond to requests for comment.
Patel siphoned the funds over 3½ years, according to federal court documents. In December, he pleaded guilty to fraud charges in federal court in Jacksonville, Florida. He faces up to 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine when he is sentenced March 12.
Sources said FanDuel alerted the NFL to Patel's betting in January 2023, after he placed traditional sports bets in Tennessee. The amounts and types of wagers that triggered the investigation are unknown. The Jaguars had no knowledge of the embezzlement scheme or Patel's extensive daily fantasy habit until they were notified by the NFL, team and league sources said.
It's not clear what recourse the Jaguars might have to recoup the losses. Under federal law, FanDuel has an obligation to make sure funds used for sports betting were legally obtained, but the regulations are murkier for daily fantasy.
"Gambling sites have a duty to perform 'Anti-Money Laundering' and 'Know Your Client' procedures to ensure they do not onboard funds of an illicit origin," said Stephen Bell, an attorney who practices in white-collar criminal cases. "Where the size of a customer's bets far outweighs their income, red flags are present and should require additional due diligence to confirm the funds are clean."
Online records show Patel was a high-stakes and high-volume daily fantasy player on FanDuel and DraftKings, both of which are official betting partners of the NFL. Patel played daily fantasy sports as far back as 2017, the records show, and his play escalated in 2021 and 2022. ESPN previously reported that Patel played daily fantasy under the username "ParlayPicker" and was believed to have racked up big losses playing against elite competition in contests with buy-ins upward of $24,000.
One veteran daily fantasy player told ESPN on condition of anonymity that they believe ParlayPicker is "the biggest loser ever on FanDuel."
"He was legendarily bad," the person said.
Federal authorities say Patel lived an extravagant lifestyle while employed with the Jaguars that included chartering private jets, reserving luxury hotels, acquiring multiple vehicles and purchasing cryptocurrency, a country club membership, spa treatments and a high-end wristwatch that cost more than $95,000.
Co-workers assumed Patel's family was wealthy. One former team employee said they remember seeing Patel's lavish lifestyle on his social media accounts, which he has since deleted.
"I remember on Instagram he was taking baller-style trips all the time. In the Hamptons, Miami, living a large life. Bottle service at clubs," the former employee said. "There was no way he could have afforded the lifestyle based on the Jaguar salary."
In a Dec. 7 statement, Patel's attorney, Alex King, denied that Patel funded his lifestyle with the stolen money and said his home and car were bought with family or earned money.
"Mr. Patel did not use the Jaguars' VCC to fund his lifestyle, but in a horribly misguided effort to pay back previous gambling losses," King said.
Patel said during a December court appearance that he has a "gambling disorder" and is seeing a therapist weekly for treatment. He said he underwent treatment for alcohol and substance abuse from March to June last year.
Why should they return the money, FanDuel had no idea it was stolen when they received the money.
It’s sort of emblematic of how the Jaguars are owned, chaotic with an owner that is disinterested in how the franchise operates who has his son running the day-to-day operations who no more qualified than your average drunken frat guy.
We have no financial control over our business and an employee figured that out and stole from us. Pay us back.
I can think of several answers to that. None of them are “who do we make the check out to?”
That’s it. If I owned a business and you paid me with stolen money, am I obligated to return the money I took in good faith?
Why should they return the money, FanDuel had no idea it was stolen when they received the money.
That’s the question. But the amount of money being spent and lost arguably prompted a duty to inquire. Especially since the money was coming from a COMPANY credit card, not a personal one.
If you looked into these gambling sites, you would find, millions getting bet every weekend, they money this guy was putting up was similar to what others were doing on a regular basis.
Are employees of a professional sports team allowed to bet on games and remain employees? Is it just the players themselves that cant bet on their sport? How about coaches, managers, trainers, etc? How far separated does the employee have to be from actually playing to be immune from rules about no gambling on their team?
If you looked into these gambling sites, you would find, millions getting bet every weekend, they money this guy was putting up was similar to what others were doing on a regular basis. Therefore, the bets being placed by this guy were not out of the ordinary and they had no reason to suspect it.
FYI, if you think you know the perp, understand this. “Amit Patel” is one of the most common Indian names. I’ve known more “Amit Patels” than I have “John Smiths”
I thought NFL people were not allowed to gamble................
Anyways, I’m with the company. They had no idea.............
You mean you are with FanDuel?
To maintain a positive business relationship. Although I think DraftKings threw the big money at he NFL for the “official” label. With it all legal now they are business partners.
So Jaguars personnel were gambling on the games? Might explain some of the outcomes.
If this guy was getting tax prep assistance forms showing millions of dollars in losses each year, it is surprising that nobody does some kind of review of the loser list.
On the other hand, if the charges clear and they haven't gotten in trouble before, it will get marked down as "unexpected" and added to the list of things they should be doing.
Does Fan Duel monitor the employment status and individual rules of their customers employers.
The rules you mentioned are immaterial to the insane request of the employer.
“If you looked into these gambling sites, you would find, millions getting bet every weekend, they money this guy was putting up was similar to what others were doing on a regular basis. Therefore, the bets being placed by this guy were not out of the ordinary and they had no reason to suspect it.”
Read the article:
One veteran daily fantasy player told ESPN on condition of anonymity that they believe ParlayPicker is “the biggest loser ever on FanDuel.”
“He was legendarily bad,” the person said.
Exactly, several of the NFL owners are investors in DraftKings, the NFL is totally into gambling because they realize gambling is one of the key draws to the NFL being so popular with the public. If you really examined these gambling sites you would find they’re a bunch of people betting similar amounts of money and they would have no reason to suspect anyone of gambling with stolen money.
mm... no
Sure, I don’t think they’re saying FanDuel “should have known”. I think they’re more along the lines of “we’re all friends here, you wouldn’t want to give that money back would you?”
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