Ex-Jaguars employee Amit Patel sues FanDuel for $250 million - ESPN

A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who stole more than $22 million from the team sued FanDuel in federal court on Tuesday, claiming the sportsbook «exploited» his gambling addiction and intentionally ignored its responsible gaming and anti-money laundering protocols.

In a civil suit filed in the Southern District of New York, an attorney for Amit Patel alleges that FanDuel incentivized Patel to keep playing daily fantasy sports despite Patel exhibiting signs of problem gambling. According to court documents, he transferred approximately $20 million to FanDuel.

The sportsbook gave Patel $1.1 million in credits as well as trips to the Super Bowl, College Football Playoff championship game and the Masters in 2021 and 2022, according to the filing.

«Defendants actively and intentionally targeted and preyed on Plaintiff with incentives, credits, and gifts to create, nurture, expedite, and/or exacerbate his addiction with the only possible outcome that he would ultimately hit rock bottom,» Patel's attorney, Matthew Litt, wrote in the suit.

Patel, 31, is asking for $250 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

FanDuel declined comment, citing company policy about discussing pending litigation.

The suit alleges Patel's VIP host at FanDuel, Brett Krause, communicated with Patel as many as 100 times a day between 2021 and 2023, on several occasions contacting Patel on days he was not gambling to find out why. Krause acknowledged on numerous occasions that they were «breaking AML [anti-money laundering protocol],» the suit says.

Krause also moved certain texts with Patel to his personal phone «to avoid detection by FanDuel's compliance personnel,» and instructed Patel to fabricate dialogue on his FanDuel phone, according