A youthful sports bettor who won fame last year for winning over a million dollars has been charged with threatening violence against professional and college athletes as well as their families.
On Wednesday, the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida charged Benjamin Tucker Patz aka Parlay Patz with transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce. If convicted, Patz could spend up to five years in federal prison.
The 23-year-old Patz received media coverage late last year after he won over $1.1m in less than two months on parlay wagers with New Jersey sportsbooks operated by William Hill. But the complaint filed Wednesday suggests that Patz was anything but a winner outside the sportsbook.
The complaint features testimony from an FBI agent who detailed numerous incidents in which Patz sent messages to athletes via his Instagram account. Some of these messages referenced unsuccessful bets that Patz had placed on these athletes’ teams and expressed his view that the athletes had cost him money.