The Jacksonville Jaguars are filing a huge lawsuit against the employee convicted of stealing over $20 million from the organization.
On Thursday, the Jaguars filed a lawsuit against Amit Patel seeking $66.6 million in damages stemming from Patel’s fraud, according to Xuan Thai of ESPN. The Jaguars allege fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty and civil theft, with claims largely based on Patel’s court admissions.
The point of the suit from the Jaguars’ perspective is essentially to gain flexibility in what they can recover from Patel. Winning a lawsuit would allow the organization to act directly instead of going through the federal government, and would also allow the Jaguars to seize assets that Patel obtained legally.
Patel admitted in court that he stole $22 million from the Jaguars in order to fund a gambling addiction. Records showed that Patel went on a series of spending sprees with the money he obtained, while also losing huge sums of money playing daily fantasy sports. Patel had used his position as the head of the team’s virtual credit card program to steal money to fuel his addictions.
Patel was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for fraud in March, and was ordered to pay the Jaguars $21.1 million in restitution.
