Feb. 2, 2023 began like any other morning for Amit Patel. He was sitting in his cubicle on the ground floor of EverBank Stadium, home to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Patel, a manager in the team’s financial department, was closing out the last cycle of expenses, as he did at the beginning of each month.

When Jaguars chief financial officer Mark Sirota asked Patel to come to Sirota’s office, he thought it might be to discuss a new project. But then Patel got there and Sirota lowered his voice and asked Patel to shut the door behind him. Sirota then told Patel a delegation from NFL security was in a suite upstairs waiting to talk to him.

Sirota escorted Patel through the office, then the bowels of the stadium. As they made their way to an elevator, Patel looked back and saw a contingent of human relations officials and team security trailing them. When he arrived on the fourth floor and stepped into a suite, he was met by one of the team’s lawyers and three men in suits, one of whom was sitting behind a laptop.

“I already knew they had everything on the computer in front of them. My entire gambling history,” Patel, 31, told The Athletic in an interview from his attorney’s office in Jacksonville last week.

When the NFL security team asked where Patel got the money to place the bets they had discovered, he lied. He said it was from family wealth and cryptocurrency. When they asked whether they could have access to his phone and computer, he looked to the Jaguars’ lawyer for advice, only to realize the lawyer was there to protect the team, not him. He handed his devices over and the lawyer took him for a walk around the concourse. As they walked, Patel feverishly calculated what those security officials might identify as they transferred data from his computer and phone.

When his boss later asked him for his password to the company’s virtual credit card program, Patel knew it was over. He was caught.

FBI investigators subsequently discovered that Patel, over a four-year period, had embezzled more than $22 million from the Jaguars by creating fraudulent charges on the club’s virtual credit card and then covering his tracks by sending falsified files to the team’s accounting department. Patel’s attorney said the vast majority of what he stole he gambled away via online sports gambling sites. The government said he also used the money to fund a jet-set lifestyle and to purchase vehicles, a condominium, a designer watch worth over $95,000 and other extravagances.

Last Tuesday, in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Patel stood before a judge, voice quivering, and said he was “ashamed” of his actions. The prosecution asked for a sentence of 84 months, emphasizing the scale of his fraud, the media attention the case received and the message it would send to others who might “steal millions and live like a king.” Patel’s attorney asked for probation, citing his client’s gambling addiction and subsequent recovery efforts as reasons for leniency.

Patel received a 78-month sentence.

In his first interview since he pleaded guilty last year, Patel said that after months of anticipation, dread and unease, he feels a sense of relief to finally face his punishment.

“I’m dealing with the consequences of something that happened a year and a half ago. I’ve been a completely different person since then through my recovery,” Patel said. “I’m dealing with something that’s happened in the past when I was a different person.”

Patel had roughly two dozen friends and family on hand at his sentencing, some of whom made statements vouching for his character. His older brother said he was the prototypical golden child who excelled at sports and school only to be derailed by alcohol abuse and gambling addiction. His high school teacher said he was a “model student.” His girlfriend insisted he was a good person who had taken responsibility for his actions and committed to a life of sobriety.

Government attorneys described him as a fabulist who conned his company and enjoyed the spoils. Court filings included pictures of Patel partying at swanky hotels, flying on private planes and flashing expensive bottles of champagne. In that filing, the prosecutor handling the case wrote that Patel continued to “enjoy the finer things” even after he was fired. Megha Parekh, the Jaguars chief legal counsel, issued a blistering assessment of Patel, stating that his actions invited an inordinate amount of scrutiny on the organization and diverted key resources and time from current employees: “He was our teammate and he betrayed us.”

Those depictions, while seemingly in contrast, coexist in Patel’s retelling, and he frequently toed the line between expressing remorse for his actions and ascribing those actions to a problem outside his control.

“I was battling with a secret addiction that nobody knew about,” Patel said. “Everyone thought I was doing great, dandy. You know, on Instagram they see you having fun, you’re with your friends and family, but there’s a mental demon inside.”

Patel grew up in a strict household where his parents, who immigrated from India, expected academic excellence from their two sons. He said he was impacted greatly by two losses earlier in his life: Patel’s father died of a heart attack when Patel was 13, and one of his best friends died in a car accident nine years later when he was in college. By that time, Patel said his drinking, drug use and gambling were all-consuming.

But Patel also had an abundance of love and support coupled with ambition and opportunity. He was, as the government attorney described in court, an example of the American Dream. Popular and well-liked among his classmates. Elected class president at the Paxon School for Advanced Studies in Jacksonville. Captain of his high school lacrosse team. And he had an entrepreneurial spirit, dabbling in e-commerce and side projects that suffused him with cash and freedom.

Like many people his age, Patel was drawn to gambling during the online poker boom of the early aughts and the ubiquity of fantasy sports. He said he first experienced the rush of gambling on a cruise trip to the Bahamas the summer before he left for college. The cruise featured a poker tournament and, though his mom forbade him to enter because he had previously squandered money on online poker by using her credit card, his stepfather slipped him a $100 bill.

A crowd formed around the poker table and he was in the middle of it all, winning the tournament and a $2,000 prize. He paid his mother back for a portion of the cruise and bought his then-girlfriend a necklace. He later posed for a picture with the money splayed out on a table and made that his Facebook profile avatar.

Patel enrolled at Florida State in 2010 but said the combination of partying and gambling led him to switch from his major of choice (engineering) to something more manageable (accounting). Poor grades prompted his transfer to Flagler College as he prioritized gambling over all else. He took a bus to an in-person poker tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, where he finished 15th out of about 1,500 entrants, winning almost $7,500. But he was able to return to FSU for an MBA. Out of college, he went to work for Deloitte, and while there he used his corporate credit card to fund his gambling habit. But he avoided trouble because his brother helped him pay it off.

In 2018, he landed his dream job with the Jaguars, a team he grew up supporting. By that point, he’d progressed from playing fantasy football to betting on baseball via offshore accounts to placing wagers on essentially anything he could. “You wake up in the middle of the night and you’re betting on Turkish women’s volleyball,” he said.

He’d ignore his mom’s calls, forget to brush his teeth, stay up late into the night, constantly refreshing his phone for scores and highlights while his girlfriend slept next to him. Once, in Las Vegas, he drove to the Nevada/Arizona border just so he could place a daily fantasy sports bet, which isn’t permitted in Nevada. When his bank account was low, he’d sell personal items, donate plasma, take out payday loans or rustle up work doing cell phone repairs. There were times he’d visit the ATM multiple times in a day, depositing and depleting.

“The worst part is there’s always a win around the corner,” Patel said. “And so that’s what you’re always chasing.”

In September 2019, Patel, then a mid-level employee with the Jaguars, was in the hole from gambling losses, his credit card maxed out. He was drunk, trying to think of a way to dig himself out of debt and feeling the “itch.” That’s when he allowed himself to consider using funds from the company VCC program he managed.

“I mean, the devil inside me is like let me just deposit $25,000 from the card. I’ll turn it into $50,000. I’ll put the $25,000 back,” Patel said.

Given the level of attrition and lack of oversight within the Jaguars’ depleted accounting and finance department, the prospect of getting caught seemed low. In corporate finance, there is a concept called the fraud triangle: Opportunity. Incentive. Rationalization. Patel had all three.

The hole deepened as Patel’s gambling losses mounted. And so he continued using funds obtained from the Jaguars VCC program to place astronomical bets via FanDuel and DraftKings in hopes that he’d win big and save himself. Patel said his VIP rep at FanDuel would add 10 percent to his account for every $600,000 he spent, in addition to entry fees that were refunded and travel perks he was comped. A spokesperson for FanDuel declined to comment as the company still considers the situation an “ongoing matter.”

In the early days of the scheme, Patel would see an unannounced meeting placed on his calendar and believe the team had figured out his subterfuge. As the years passed and his actions went undetected, that fear never abated, he said, but he just couldn’t stop.

He’s not sure what tipped off NFL security early in 2023. (Employees of NFL teams are forbidden from betting on games.) But he recounted some brazen moves he made in the months before his termination. Twice, he bet on the Jaguars – once while he was in Kansas City for a game against the Chiefs — an $18,000 six-way parlay involving five UFC fights and the Jags covering the spread. (The five fights went his way, he said, but the Jags didn’t cover.) Later, he said he bet “a few hundred thousand dollars” on a Jaguars-Titans game, another loss. He also tried to withdraw money from a wire to place bets through FanDuel, which triggered a notification from the anti-money laundering team at the site. (He said his account was suspended after he unsuccessfully answered questions about the source of his funds.)

“I was so far in the hole I was like ‘Maybe I can win a million really quick on this game and pay them back,’” he said. “I was desperate.”

In the immediate aftermath of getting fired by the Jaguars, Patel did not stop gambling. Instead, he continued scrambling to try to win and pay the team back. An absurd idea, he recognizes now, considering the sum he owed.

Patel was in rehab by the time the FBI got involved. His attorney referred him for alcohol and drug abuse, as well as gambling addiction. He cooperated with the government’s investigation and in December 2023 pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and an illegal monetary transaction.

In the 99 days he spent in rehab, Patel said he felt guilt and shame for the pain he caused his loved ones, friends and coworkers. But he also felt grateful. “I was so glad to be out of that torturous, endless cycle in my head,” he said.

Gambler’s Anonymous works similarly to Alcoholics Anonymous. You work the 12 steps. Identify the “character defects” that contribute to addiction. Patel still battles those, with perfectionism and ego surfacing more prevalently than he would like.

He bristled at the suggestion that he was a neophyte and historically bad gambler, as one report suggested. He was bothered by news accounts that only one person attended his plea hearing in his defense. (He told friends and family not to attend, he said.) And he pushes back on the government’s assertion that he was driven solely by greed.

He contends that he bought some luxury items to flip for profits to subsidize his gambling, while also acknowledging that he was frittering away money on a country club membership, spa services and more. Though the majority of the money he stole from the Jaguars ended up with FanDuel or DraftKings, the government contends that Patel transferred over $5 million to his PayPal and other financial accounts.

He admits he enjoyed the trappings that came with having access to millions of dollars but said the cost of certain trips and events were reimbursed by the online betting sites, an incentive for him to continue spending with them: “They just give you this illusion that you’re winning because they’re just making so much money off of you that they need to keep you happy and keep you gambling,” he said.

Patel said he still has urges to gamble — the most recent one came a few months ago when he got an email from the Hard Rock Hotel Casino group, commemorating the opening of its new sportsbook. Patel talked about it in the GA meeting he organized; the group now meets regularly in a local church.

“Not everyone will get addicted to gambling,” Patel said. “But everyone can get addicted.”

Patel will continue treatment while incarcerated. He is slated to begin his sentence within the next 90 days. His attorney requested he be placed at the federal facility closest to his family in Jacksonville. When he gets out, he’ll be put on a payment plan – $250 a month directed to the Jaguars. Both the prosecuting attorney and the judge acknowledged he is unlikely to ever pay back the entire sum he stole from the NFL franchise.

Said Patel: “I’ve just got to deal with these consequences and move on with my life and see how much I can use this to help a lot of other people.”

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Don Juan Moore, Julio Aguilar, Perry Knotts, Don Juan Moore / Getty Images; courtesy of U.S. Attorney)

HE is on a mission to help our pets. . . and is here to answer YOUR questions.

Sean, head veterinarian at custom pet food company tails.com, has been helping owners with questions for a decade.

4

4

He says, “If your pet is acting strange or sick, or you want to know more about diet or exercise, just ask. I can help keep pets happy and healthy.”

Q: WHEN I tell my dog ​​Oreo he's naughty, he runs straight to my husband Peter and then ignores me for the rest of the day.

Are dogs intelligent enough to play their owners against each other?

I have a feeling that's happening.

Steph Carlisle, Edinburgh

Sean says: Maybe not, but dogs develop individual relationships and rules of interaction with members of their pack, whether human or canine.

If you are the bad cop, then it is more pleasant and better to spend time with the good cop.

This is likely an avoidance on Oreo's part rather than pitting you against each other directly.

But indirectly, if it means Oreo gets more hugs and attention from your husband, you may feel like Peter and Oreo have betrayed you and the feeling of distance is increased because it's two against one.

The most important thing in any dog-human household is that people treat their pet consistently, with agreed-upon routines and rules that they apply together.

Dogs thrive when they know what is expected of them.

If one owner applies the rules and the other breaks them or makes exceptions, it can cause problems and confusion.

Question: MY Norwegian Forest Cat Sasha has beautiful long hair, but she hates being brushed.

What can I do to make this a better experience for her – and me?

Mary Morgan, Cardiff

Sean says: Use reward-based training and patient, gradual desensitization to the grooming process.

Sounds simple, right?

But there's really nothing wrong with cats, especially those who have made up their minds about something.

Start slowly and in a calm, stress-free environment.

You won't get a full grooming session in one go, so start with small brushing movements around Sasha's head and neck, where she likes to be petted.

Slowly build up more time to brush, including other parts of the body, with rewards for her favorite foods and lots of praise.

Let her get used to the brush that is there and ask her to come for quick sessions in exchange for treats.

If her coat is already dull and you need to pull the hair or make her feel uncomfortable, it is best to have her professionally groomed first and then continue with the maintenance at home.

Question: SHOULD you feed corn snakes outside their enclosure?

I'm going to buy one for my eight year old son, Ethan.

I read everything so that we do things right.

But there seems to be a big debate online about where to feed them.

What do you recommend?

Mark Thomas, Herne Bay, Kent

Sean says: As far as I can tell, there is no need or reason to put them in another container for feeding.

It makes something simple too complicated.

I had corn snakes as pets when I was younger and used to feed them in their enclosures.

Snakes don't like to be moved or handled in the few days after a big meal, and it can cause reflux, so that's a good reason to start.

You can also use feeding as behavioral enrichment, by hiding the food item in different parts of the room for them to find.

The best advice I have for any reptile owner is to simulate the life they would have in the wild, with a large, complex, enriched enclosure, allowing them to explore new items and furnishings, and a natural temperature gradient to choose where they want to go. be every day.

Feeding should also be part of that stimulation, so be creative.

In the wild its food would be found in its habitat and in captivity this should be no different.

Star of the week

TYSON the Maine Coon is a two-stone cat who thinks he's a DOG.

Owner Karen Murray, from Royston, Herts, said: “Tyson is lead trained and goes for half an hour walks every day.

4

“He also does some tricks, including 'paw.' He is a real character.”

Karen, 48, a member of breeder and trainer group Dollzuki Maine Coons, added: “Tyson and our other four Maine Coons have appeared in adverts for Lexus and John Lewis and work with animal talent agency Urban Paws.

“They also visit a local retirement home to cheer up residents.”

• See Dollzuki_Maine_Coons on Insta.

Retrievers go for gold at Crufts

GOLDEN Retrievers are the most popular competitors at this year's Crufts, the Kennel Club has revealed.

The show, which runs from March 7 to 10, is expected to attract 24,000 dog lovers, with 538 retrievers hoping to take home a title.

4

This is just ahead of the Labrador with 519 participants and the Cocker Spaniel with 421.

In contrast, only three Belgian Shepherds, three Foxhounds and two Turkish Kangals will compete for the honor.

Fifty countries will have dogs competing in the event at The NEC, Birmingham.

The Netherlands is the top dog in terms of numbers, with 382 in the race for glory.

Show manager Helen Kerfoot said: “Crufts is an iconic British event with a truly international appeal.

“It's a great celebration for dogs, whether it's seeing which breed wins the Best in Show title, watching quick agility, hearing the stories of our Hero Dog Award finalists, seeing Britain's best pets in the Scruffts final, or meet your match in the Discover Dogs area – there's something for everyone.”

The Cocker Spaniel has won the most Best in Shows, with seven titles, followed by the Irish Setter, Poodle and Welsh Terrier who have triumphed four times each.

When asked about BJP's allegations that the man was a Congress worker, Rahul Gandhi said, “No, where was he a Congress worker. I don't understand BJP's obsession with dogs.”

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday reacted to the viral video of him feeding a dog during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'. While addressing the media, Rahul explained the entire incident and said that the dog got scared when he tried to feed it. So he gave the cookies to the dog's owner. “I called the dog and the owner. The dog was nervous, shivering, and when I tried to feed it, the dog got scared. So I gave cookies to the dog's owner and the dog ate them out of his hand. I don't understand what the problem is with that.”

When asked about BJP's claims that the man was a Congress worker, Rahul Gandhi said, 'No, where was he a Congress worker. I don't understand BJP's obsession with dogs.”

#WATCH | On the viral video of him feeding a dog during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says, “…I called the dog and its owner. The dog was nervous, shivering, and when I tried to feed it, the dog got scared. So I gave cookies to the dog's owner and… pic.twitter.com/QhO6QvfyNB

— ANI (@ANI) February 6, 2024

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma responded to the viral video on Monday evening with a message on I am a proud Assamese and Indian. I refused to eat and resigned from Congress.”

A Kentucky mother of two who woke up after routine surgery to discover she had undergone a quadruple amputation shared a heartwarming photo of her youngest son helping to feed her as she shared photos of her missing legs for the first time.

Lucinda Mullins, 41, had surgery to remove a kidney stone, but it became infected and became septic, causing her to lose both her legs and arms.

Mullins’ support system has shared updates on her condition since the surgery took a dark turn. In a recent photo, her youngest son Easton helped feed her.

The 41-year-old nurse was taken to Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, where she will stay for several weeks before undergoing further surgery.

‘She made it to Cardinal Hill today and even felt the little snowflakes on her face as she left Britain. She is more than ready for this next step and change of scenery for a few weeks,” Mullins’ sister Luci Smith said in a Facebook post Monday.

Mullins put on a brave face during the life-changing event, but after her first day of therapy, she shared a photo of herself lying in her hospital bed, covered in bandages.

‘She had a great first day of therapy! She was so excited and doing so well,” said her friend Heather Beshears, who set up the Mullins GoFundMe page.

In another photo, Mullins can be seen with her hair tied back, smiling with her medical care team.

When the kidney stone became septic, she was first taken by ambulance to Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford and from there to a University of Kentucky hospital in Lexington.

But doctors had to amputate both her legs and told her she would also lose both arms below her elbows.

Upon her arrival in Cardinal Hill, Beshears posted a photo to the GoFundMe page of Mullins and her husband DJ smiling from her hospital bed.

“Keep praying, we are one step closer to her home,” Smith said.

Mullins said LEX 18: ‘I’ve lost my legs from the knees bilaterally and I’m probably going to lose my arms bilaterally below the elbow.’

“The doctor I worked with was like, ‘This is what they had to do to save your life. This is what happened. ”

When asked how she stayed optimistic, Mullins said, “I just said these are the cards I’ve been dealt and these are the hands I’m going to play.”

‘I’m just so happy to be alive. I get to see my children. I get to see my family. I can spend my time with my husband. Those are small things right now.”

In addition to her family and friends, the mother also found support within her community.

‘I think they once said there were forty people in the waiting room here. The calls and the texts, the prayers and the things people have sent. The little words of encouragement.”

“I just can’t imagine people doing things like that for me,” Mullins said while in the hospital.”

As the former nurse prepares for rehabilitation, physical therapy and prosthetics, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help her handle medical bills.

Beshears has the crowdfunding page and wrote, “Cindy, as most of her friends call her, is a sweet, caring, brave and beautiful young lady who recently experienced a life-changing tragedy that will leave her a quadruple amputee.

“Cindy and her family will need to make some adjustments to their home to accommodate Cindy’s needs, as well as her prosthetics and adaptive equipment.

The cost of all this can be overwhelming. We started this fundraiser because we want to support our hero Cindy, as well as her husband DJ, who has been by her side every step of the way.”

The fundraiser raised $173,768 of its $250,000 goal.

Nicole Kidman found the cutest way to spend her holiday season.

Kidman, 56, took to her Instagram Story on Wednesday, December 27, to share photos of herself bottle-feeding baby lambs at what appeared to be her and husband’s Keith Urbans farm in Australia. “Holiday chores,” she captioned the sweet snaps.

The Oscar winner opted for a relaxed look on a chilly winter day, wearing black leggings, a navy blue puffer coat and a pair of white sneakers. She completed the outfit with a dark blue baseball cap and pulled her hair back into a low bun.

Kidman and Urban, 56, bought their Bunya Hill estate, located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, in 2008. The property covers approximately 111 hectares and reportedly cost $6.5 million.

Related: Amanda Seyfried and more stars who have chickens as pets

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Jennifer Garner and more celebrities have expanded their families with pet chickens. “She’s always wanted chickens,” the Duke of Sussex said of his wife during their CBS tell-all interview in March 2021, during which he gave a tour of their chicken coop. Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, who then moved to California in 2020 […]

The couple, who tied the knot in 2005, share daughters Sunday, 15, and Faith, 12, and typically split their time between their farm and their hometown in Nashville. When speaking with Fashion in 2015, Kidman explained that the “simplicity,” “air,” and “peace” the family finds on the farm initially drew them there. (Kidman is also mom to daughter Bella, 31, and son Connor, 28, whom she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise.)

The two-story Georgian mansion is equipped with 10 marble fireplaces, a billiards room and a library. However, Kidman noted that her favorite part of the farm is the family’s “six alpacas, chickens that produce fresh eggs, Black Angus cows and an orchard that supplies Kidman with fruit to make homemade jam.” She added that Urban’s music is “perfect for this rural activity we have with cows grazing in the backyard.”

In January 2020, Kidman and Urban learned that their home was threatened by bushfires that were devastating Australia. While attending a Golden Globe event in Los Angeles at the time, Kidman apologized to reporters for being “so distracted” by “everything that’s going on” in her home country.

Hours later, a source told Us Weekly exclusively that Kidman looked “tired and sad” after finding out her home was in danger and was “crying” before walking the red carpet. (Kidman’s rep later confirmed to us that her home was not affected by the fire.)

Thank you!

You have been successfully subscribed.

The news came shortly after she and Urban announced they were donating $500,000 to support those fighting the wildfires. “Our family’s support, thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the fires across Australia,” the duo wrote via Instagram. “We are donating $500,000 to the rural fire service, who are all doing and giving so much right now.”

Related: Padma Lakshmi, Katie Couric, more stars growing their own food

Green fingers alert! While some stars prefer to frequent the trendy restaurants in Los Angeles, New York City and beyond, others choose to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle and grow some of their own food. Take Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed, for example. The famous couple does everything they can to be ‘connected’ […]

The terrifying fires of 2020 weren’t the first time Kidman and Urban gave back to their community. In 2018, the couple pledged $100,000 to the Farm Aid Telethon to help drought-affected farmers fighting for their livelihoods. During an appearance on the Today show, Kidman said: “We love Australia and we recognize that there has been a crippling drought crisis and rural communities are struggling very, very hard now, so we want to do our bit.”