Ex-Jaguars employee who stole $22 million from team files lawsuit against FanDuel

A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who stole over $22 million from the franchise filed a lawsuit against FanDuel on Tuesday, alleging the sportsbook took advantage of his gambling addiction and ignored its own responsible gaming and anti-money laundering protocols, according to the complaint.

The former employee is seeking $250 million in damages, per the complaint.

Amit Patel, who formerly worked in the Jaguars’ financial planning and analysis department, pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and an illegal monetary transaction in December 2023. Patel was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in March in U.S. District Court.

The vast majority of the $22 million Patel stole were gambling losses, the lawyer who represented Patel in the criminal case, Alex King, previously told The Athletic. Patel had placed bets on football and daily fantasy sports with online gambling sites.

In the lawsuit, filed in a U.S. district court in the Southern District of New York, Patel alleged that FanDuel engaged in predatory practices “by using its information about his addiction to target him for enticements including well over a million dollars in FanDuel credits and lavish gifts to ensure that he deposit money and gamble.”

The complaint continued to say, “Part of Defendants’ predatory gambling practice was intentionally ignoring its own responsible gaming protocol, and knowing and/or taking intentional steps to avoid knowing that the money gambled by Plaintiff was stolen or otherwise not from a legitimate source.”

Patel alleged that FanDuel circumvented its own “Know Your Customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) and customer due diligence (CDD) standards and requirements” to allow him to make deposits and wagers.

The suit also alleged that FanDuel, primarily through Patel’s VIP host Brett Krause communicated with Patel through email, telephone and text message on an almost daily basis and offered incentives despite knowing about his gambling addiction from late 2019 through early 2023. FanDuel’s VIP hosts communicate with the company’s biggest clients about their accounts.

According to the complaint, the incentives included trips to a Formula One Grand Prix event in Miami, the College Football Playoff championship in 2023, trips to The Masters in 2021 and 2022 and an offer of an all-expense paid trip to the Super Bowl.

Patel also alleged in the suit that FanDuel conspired to circumvent its policies to allow him to continue to make deposits with the sportsbook.

Per the complaint, Patel said he was notified that some of his transactions were flagged as suspicious in 2023 and that Krause told him he would have to verify the source of the funds being added to his account.

“Days later, and without Plaintiff providing verification of any kind, Defendants informed Plaintiff that ‘Defendants got around it’ and ‘you owe me big time’ or words to that effect, and that Defendants were no longer requesting verification,” the complaint stated.

The suit alleged that Krause would send as many as 100 texts per day and moved some of his communication with Patel to his personal cell phone as a further means to circumvent FanDuel’s policies.

FanDuel and an attorney representing Krause declined to comment to ESPN.

The lawsuit comes months after the Jaguars filed a lawsuit against Patel in July for $66.6 million in damages.

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