‘Parlay Patz’ gambler pleads guilty to threatening MLB players

A young gambler who rose to fame for hitting big parlays has pleaded guilty to threatening players who compromised his bets.

Ben Patz, known in the industry as “Parlay Patz,” pleaded guilty to “transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce” on February 15, but the US Department of Justice announced the deal on Wednesday.

Patz, arrested on March 5, 2020, faces a maximum of five years in prison for his crime.

The plea by Patz, 24, comes nearly a year to the day when Patz turned into a Federal Marshal after being accused of threatening to harm athletes and their families through direct Instagram messages .

The complaint alleged that Patz messaged a Pepperdine basketball player after a victory telling him “his throat would be slit with a dull knife” and “his whole family would be beheaded and burned alive”.

The complaint also said that after Patz bet $ 10,000 on the Rams to win the Super Bowl, and they lost to the New England Patriots, Patz allegedly sent a direct message to a Patriots player with the initials JE (probably Julian Edelman) that he would. rape and murder your whole family. Edelman caught 10 passes for 141 yards en route to the MVP of the game.

But the messages that led to Patz’s indictment took place on July 20, 2019.

That day, the Tampa Bay Rays lost one game, 2-1, to the White Sox.

Patz pleaded guilty to sending messages to pitchers Emilio Pagan, Adam Kolarek and Chaz Roe, who were responsible for dropping the colon.

Patz also sent a message to Rays left fielder Tommy Pham, who was scored 0 for 5.

Patz wrote to Pagan that he would kill his family by cutting them up and dismembering them alive.

The Rays brought the threats to the attention of their local FBI office and cooperated with the investigation, in which Patz admitted to sending the direct messages while the game was still in progress.

The Action Network presented “Parlay Patz” and its $ 1.1 million in earnings to William Hill over a 50-day period.

Upon his arrest, William Hill announced that he was cooperating with the investigation.