VIP treatment, doctored expenses and fateful wagers: How a former Jaguars employee’s betting scheme unraveled

Amit Patel, then a Jacksonville Jaguars financial administrator, had been identified as a high-value customer by FanDuel, an online fantasy sports and sports-betting company.

Brett Krause, the VIP host assigned as Patel’s ambassador to the freebies and incentives that online gaming companies use to keep heavy spenders sweet, became his booster and texting pal.

Krause stayed in touch almost daily, and, over nearly two years, he and FanDuel doled out more than $1 million in credits, according to a new lawsuit filed this week by Patel. Among the perks Patel received: free trips to the Formula One Grand Prix event in Miami, a National Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship football game and Masters golf tournaments.

Federal prosecutors would later prove that the millions of dollars Patel spent with FanDuel during that time—largely on fantasy sports—had been stolen from his employer. Patel pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $22 million and is serving a 6½-year prison sentence.

Patel’s suit sheds new light on behind-the-scenes tactics used by betting companies to keep their VIP customers happy—and shows how badly things can go wrong when a self-destructive gambler gets hooked. Armed with data monitoring customers’ spending patterns, sports-betting and fantasy sports companies shower customers with gifts to make them feel important, The Wall Street Journal has previously reported.

Critics say the VIP programs, while legal, end up fueling gambling addictions. The programs drew federal scrutiny earlier this year.

Patel said in the lawsuit filed this week that the company and Krause preyed on him and fueled his gambling addiction. He alleged he was manipulated by FanDuel and his VIP host for months and regularly received credits in his account to keep him active in daily fantasy sports. He said he has since received inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse and gambling disorder.

Theresa Trzaskoma, an attorney for Krause, said in a statement that Patel is a convicted fraudster who lied about his life to Krause and that his complaint is “full of misrepresentations." Krause now works at Fanatics, a FanDuel competitor in sports betting.

“Mr. Patel defrauded Mr. Krause, just as he did the Jaguars," she said.

The following account is based on court documents from cases connected to Patel’s actions.

VIP status

The son of Indian immigrants, Patel grew up in Iowa and Jacksonville, Fla. He said in court filings that he had an early propensity for gambling.

He used his mother’s credit card to wager online, and, as a young adult, took her card to local betting establishments. He got a job at Deloitte, where he used a corporate card to fund some of his gambling. He was able to pay it back before it was detected.

With a Master of Business Administration, Patel landed a job with the Jaguars in 2018, working in the financial planning and analysis department, overseeing budgets and administering the team’s credit-card programs.

By late 2019, Patel had begun playing fantasy sports on FanDuel. In daily contests, players build teams of real-life athletes and compete against other teams based on their athletes’ performances.

Two years later, he had earned VIP status. FanDuel gave him $12,700 in credits in February 2021, followed by $25,000 the next month. Patel received credits—some hundreds and others tens of thousands of dollars—multiple times a week for nearly two years.

Such perks added up to $1.1 million in credits, according to Patel’s lawsuit.

FanDuel offered fully reimbursed or paid-for trips to high-profile sporting events. Krause accompanied him on more than one such trip, according to Patel’s suit.

The company and his VIP host arranged three-person fantasy-sports contests for Patel to participate in with entry fees between $10,600 and $530,000. Patel said in his suit that such contests were where he lost most of the money.

As the perks and contests continued, Patel deposited more funds he had embezzled from the Jaguars. Patel said he ultimately deposited more than $20 million of stolen money to his FanDuel account through about 1,077 deposits.

Court filings and public statements from federal prosecutors, the Jaguars and an attorney for Krause paint Patel not as a gambling addict but as a scammer who stole money to “live in the fast lane for more than three years."

Fateful Wagers

Patel hid the thefts through “a variety of sophisticated, tedious and time-consuming methods," according to a civil lawsuit the Jaguars filed against him. He masked transactions by duplicating typical expenses like team catering, airfare and hotel rooms, inflated the price of legitimate expenses and entered fake but plausible transactions. He secured credit increases to the Jaguars’ account without permission.

Most of his embezzlement occurred during an eight-month period between June 2022 and January 2023, according to the Jaguars’ lawsuit against Patel, which is pending in a Florida court.

Federal prosecutors have said that during his period of theft, Patel splashed out using stolen funds on private jet charters, high-end hotel stays, spa services and a luxury Patek Philippe watch. He spent $200,000 on golf memorabilia, including a putter that once belonged to Tiger Woods and more than $70,000 at the five-star, beach-front Ponte Vedra Beach Inn and Club, where he owned a condominium.

He also ventured beyond his normal fantasy sports activities to sports betting, a move that would lead to his criminal conviction.

NFL team staff are prohibited from any sports betting under league rules. Patel was caught in 2023 after wagering on sports while traveling with the Jaguars in Tennessee and Kansas, according to the Jaguars’ suit and a person familiar with the matter. FanDuel confirmed his employment with the team and the company reported the transactions to the NFL, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Jaguars fired him in February 2023.

After pleading guilty, Patel said in a court filing that he was glad he was caught and wants to use the situation to help others struggling with addiction. He is seeking $250 million in damages from FanDuel.

Joe Flint contributed to this article.

Write to Katherine Sayre at katherine.sayre@wsj.com