Federal authorities on Wednesday charged a 23-year-old sports bettor known as “Parlay Patz” with transmitting threats of violence directed at professional and collegiate athletes and their friends and family.
According to the criminal complaint, Benjamin Tucker Patz of New York, New York used multiple anonymous accounts on social media in 2019 to make the threats against athletes, including members of the New England Patriots, several Major League Baseball teams and multiple college basketball and football players. Some of the threats contained derogatory terms and racial slurs.
Patz is charged with transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in federal prison. Patz did not immediately respond to phone and email messages from ESPN.
On March 9, 2019, Patz allegedly sent four Instagram direct messages to an unidentified college basketball for Pepperdine University, stating, “Your throat will be severed open with a dull knife,” “Your entire family will be beheaded and burned alive,” “I will enter your home as you sleep and kill you,” and “Watch your back, you’re a dead man walking.”
In an affidavit, FBI Special Agent Daniel Nowak stated that the Instagram account behind the threats to the Pepperdine player was registered with an email address linked to Patz. The criminal complaint identifies similar threats against a college basketball player for the University of Arizona and players for the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays and the girlfriend of an Atlanta Braves’ player that were made on Instagram.
The complaint claims approximately 18 messages were sent from Instagram account @parlaypatz to college and professional football and basketball players. More than 300 more threatening messages were directed at players from anonymous accounts that authorities believe are linked to Patz.
“Your worthlessness costed me over 100,000$ tonight! Sad!” a Dec. 22, 2019 message from @parlaypatz to a college basketball player for the University of Arizona, stated. Arizona lost to St. John’s 70-67 the previous night in a late game.
Citing betting records from bookmaker William Hill, investigators allege that Patz placed a parlay wager on July 25, 2019, on the Cleveland Indians, four other MLB teams and a professional tennis player. Roughly 45 minutes before the Indians played the Kansas City Royals, a Royals player received two direct messages on Instagram, stating, “I will cut open the throat of your baby” and “You will die.”
On Feb. 3, 2019, according to the complaint, Patz posted a screenshot of a $10,000 bet on the Los Angeles Rams against the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII. On the same day, the complaint states that multiple players for the Patriots received direct messages on Instagram threatening to “rape” and “murder” family members.
“His substantial and persistent online sports wagering suggests that Patz may have threatened athletes who played in games on which he had unsuccessfully wagered and lost money,” Nowak stated in his affidavit, “or that he may have tried to influence the outcome of upcoming sports events on which he had wagered.”
Patz gained notoriety in sports betting community and was profiled in the media after reportedly winning multiple high-dollar parlay bets, leading to the “Parlay Patz” nickname. His @parlaypatz Instagram account was still up Wednesday, including posts about winning over $333,000 13-team parlay from November.
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