Self-branded New York attorney is accused of stealing millions from his clients
By Kate Northrop
The self-titled "Lottery Lawyer" attorney who advised dozens of significant jackpot winners across the country is now being charged by New York federal prosecutors for stealing millions of dollars from his clients.
Jason "Jay" Kurland has been charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in an indictment revealed today.
Prosecutors are estimating that Kurland stole more than $80 million from his clients throughout his long-running scheme. One of his victims won the record-breaking $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery jackpot in 2018, the second-largest jackpot to-date and the largest payout to a single player ever. Another winner he stole from won a $245 million Powerball jackpot in 2018. The cumulative winnings of all his victims over time amounts to about $3 billion.
Kurland has represented players from every corner of the nation, even appearing on national television to offer advice to lottery players everywhere.
"The biggest mistake people make is doing it on their own," he said of winning a big prize in 2019. "All the horror stories you hear is when people do it on their own."
An ironic statement, given the context.
According to prosecutors, Kurland advised the lottery winners to invest in entities managed by co-conspirators, which included former securities broker Frank Smookler, Christopher Chierchio, who is supposedly a big-name player in a Genovese crime family, and Frankie Russo.
Gerald J. McMahon, Chierchio's defense attorney, dismissed these accusations as fraudulent charges and claimed that his client was not involved in organized crime.
"If he were not Italian, there would be no accusation of this nature," he stated.
For pushing jackpot winners to invest in the co-conspirators' entities, Kurland was allegedly rewarded some of the cash. On the other end, Smookler, Chierchio, and Russo siphoned money from the investments.
Prosecutors described the schemers' lavish lifestyles in court documents, saying that they "profited handsomely" from their crimes and enjoyed the luxuries of "flying private jets, taking exotic vacations, buying boats, paying country club dues and even 'wrapping' luxury cars."
"Lottery winners can't believe their luck when they win millions of dollars, and the men we arrested this morning allegedly used that euphoric feeling to their advantage," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said. "The FBI New York discovered how these victims were persuaded to put large chunks of their cash into investments that benefited the defendants. Rather than try their luck at the lottery, these men resorted to defrauding the victims to get rich, but their gamble didn't pay off."
Thanks to Raven62 for the tip.
How long will it be until we'll see this story on "American Greed"? G5
What ???? Ha ha ha ha
Thief in so called gentleman’s clothing ha ha ha ha
Will the identity of the 1.5 billion dollar win be revealed in court? How do you conceal that?
😒why am I not surprised by this story ??
and even worse b4 Virginia became an anonymous state, I was going to call this guy
So much for "trust me I will help you".
"The lottery winners paid between $75,000 and $200,000 in upfront payments to hire Mr. Kurland and his law firm, according to court papers. Mr. Kurland then charged monthly fees of between $15,000 and $50,000".
After persuading the lottery winners to invest, the four men then spent some of the funds on golf club memberships, yachts, private jets, a Porsche and other luxury cars and shopping sprees at stores like Fendi, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement officials had been wiretapping the men’s phone calls for months, including conversations in which they discussed whether they might go to jail.
Greed will catch up with these wolves in sheeps clothing. May these winners recoup their money. It stinks that you don't know who to trust.
Gasp
Thud
Twitching in a Grand Mal Seizure
Yikes
I was going to use him, If I ever won big
Why would anyone be taking investment advice from a lawyer?
“Lottery Lawyer” and Three Co-Conspirators Indicted in $107 Million Scheme to Defraud Lottery-Winning Clients
Taken from Justice.gov
I am glad this happened. This is supposedly why you want to use a huge law firm when claiming a JP, to reduce chances of snake-isms like this.
I, also, was going to at least consider using this guy, however, I would have passed on investment advice, especially giving him access to my $$$.
Judging by the company he keeps, JK probably would have had me whacked for that!
Firm believer in handling your own finances. Allow your tax advisor to handle the irs paperwork. Beyond that be your own advocate for sound investments.
"The lottery winners paid between $75,000 and $200,000 in upfront payments to hire Mr. Kurland and his law firm, according to court papers. Mr. Kurland then charged monthly fees of between $15,000 and $50,000".
I've always figured that those claiming on behalf of winners and putting their names out there for the public would have to deal with the annoyances the winners would avoid by concealing their own identities, and they deserve to be compensated for that. At the same time I've always been under the impression that this guy was charging more than he should. Even in a Long Island office 50k per month is enough for a full time staff of 5 to answer the phone and throw away the mail, and still leave something for the lawyer that's not dealing with the hassles. I also figured that smart clients would use him once, then look for a certified financial planner and a different lawyer to deal with ongoing stuff.
"This is supposedly why you want to use a huge law firm when claiming a JP, to reduce chances of snake-isms like this."
Powers of attorney and signatories to the bank accounts are the first step in protecting your money. It's not completely fool-proof, but another good step is paying for advice by the hour and using well-established companies with well-known names for the actual investing.
There's a lawyer in MA who has represented a few MA winners (not sure about any from out of state), and I recall an article in which he said he just charges for his actual time to create a trust and claim the prize. Figuring he'd catch some of the hassles I thought he should probably charge more, but I've always had the impression he might be a good guy to handle the claim process. And while using a competent lawyer from a firm of any size is good for taking care of the basic process, I think they should find a nondescript guy with a name like John Smith who lives in a very large city (with plenty of other John Smiths) to be the name (and face, if necessary) that the lottery releases to the public. No reason to make it easy for the general public to find an address or phone number to pester.
Wow. New York doesn't play and they'll pay dearly.
May have to look up to see where Bernie Maddov (spelling) ended up with his white collar Ponzi schemes. That Pharmacy rip off artist that raised the price of a drug that was 15 years old by over 700% was recently in the news. He wanted a cell phone in the prison so he could conduct more business, also from NY.
Excellent comments by Lottery Post Members, Thank You.
Here in Fresno, CA there are plenty of lawyers to choose from. I will require a Living Revocable Trust. A Will does not cut it here in my State.
I do not have all the answers so I will seek professional advice.
We have to be grateful for the New York Federal Prosecutors for catching these defendants. They are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. It does not appear very well for them. I am not in favor of trying defendants in the press. Allow the legal process in this free Country to work.
Hopefully, should these allegations be proven true, these sharks get caged for many years.
If The FBI was wiretapping the men's phone calls for months, then somebody had to have gone to the FBI and complained. My guess is that it was one of the victims.
I just downloaded and read the actual complaint/court documents. There is a date in it showing a wire transfer of $12,500,00 from one of the victims accounts to an account owned by the defendants. There are other multi-million dollar wire transfers from the other victims bank accounts to the defendants as well.
Also, there are threats of bodily harm being done by the defendants to the victims and their family members. One of the victims was threatened with being forced to watch as his child's teeth were ripped out. The threat against the victims wife was not as specific or graphic as the threat to his son, but I imagine it was rather nasty. All caught on tape by The FBI too. These idiots have a big problem on their hands. G5
Jason is a crafty one.
* Isn't that like you visiting the dentist, and the person working on your teeth says " you good looking,single yes? l have a daughter your age that is not married, has no boyfriend and is beautiful- l show you picture."
@lejardin RE your quote ...
"The lottery winners paid between $75,000 and $200,000 in upfront payments to hire Mr. Kurland and his law firm, according to court papers. Mr. Kurland then charged monthly fees of between $15,000 and $50,000".
If I were to win a big jackpot, and then if someone quoted me upfront and monthly figures similar to those above, I'd immediately recognize them as red flags, especially the monthlies since over time they'd end up costing you way, way more than the upfronts.
Financial and legal counsels should not need to be paid more than once to file jackpot claims, and should not need to be paid any more than what they may normally charge for any type service. You set the tone, not them.
Unless otherwise, any after taxes-expenses cash option payment you receive should be broken down into three parts -- (1) "spend now" money, no than more than a max of 10% (assuming a small jackpot, larger jackpots would reduce the spend now percentage); (2) reserve and trust accounts, totaling at least 50% of whatever is not "spend now" money if a small jackpot, greater percentage for larger jackpots; (3) cash flow account which pays out a specific fixed monthly amount over 30 to 40 years, at least 50% of whatever is not "spend now" money if a small jackpot, lesser percentage for larger jackpots. Any unspent portion of the monthly payouts can be returned to the cash flow account, or can be added to the reserve and trust accounts.
Choose advice wisely, invest wisely, spend and save wisely, live within specific boundaries.
Thanx-A-Lot. Stay Safe And Well
When it comes to representing Lotto winners money, use their money to invest (like Warren Buffet)in blue chip stocks. The Feds can't charge a person who uses the money in that matter. As long as they do not use it on themselves, it's all good.
What an IDIOT. And I'm sorry to say but the bit about "If he were not Italian, there would be no accusation of this nature," he stated." That excuse only applies to.....well you know. All good things DO come to an end.
It is very important to get independent, professional legal and financial advice. State Lotteries have a responsibility to give advice in this area. The UK Lottery help winners get access to reputable advisors.
"Make sure that you go to a Lawyer"
SURE
GiveFive and Frank0sport: I agree with both your responses and I think the victims must have learned or suspected something just was not right.
The complaint showed several transfers to and from the defendants. I just cant understand how these nutcases thought they would never be caught, ESPECIALLY Jason. I am not sure why would they bring in another person by loaning money was that part of their "investment" plan lol? And to make those horrible threats makes these people more than just scammers.
Additionally, those upfront fees seem high, red flags absolutely. I would get a couple of other estimates to see whom is out of line. Seems to me you will need to hire an attorney for advice on how to claim, set up a land/family trust but after that, what need is there for an attorney? Kurland was charging $15,000 to $50,000 a month? What in the world for?
More important than an attorney would be a CPA, imo. If you need more legal advice you can find another one who charges an hourly charge. Probably using more than one is a good idea as questions come up. Exactly what frank0sport said, YOU set the tone.
In researching I found that Goldman Sachs handles high income clients and think a good choice. But have to admit like a few others here thot Kurland would have been a good choice. Sure would like to be able to handle my own finances. Of course all depends on the amount of the jackpot.
Kurland just shot himself in the foot, threw his whole business away. Now, just maybe? Those investment losers went after Kurland and threatened him like they did the other guy? Offered him a deal he "could not refuse"? Ok, slim chance lol.
This whole story is very sad.
They should've done it themseves... Smh
From right here on Lottery Post, two articles on what to do, and what not to do ....
1 .... Six Things To Do Before Claiming Your Prize
2 .... Twelve Things -NOT- To Do If You Win The Lottery
Thanx-A-Lot, Stay Safe, Well and Wise.
If a lawyer sound too good to be true ,you better watch out. Money makes people do some crazy things .You may need another lawyer to check on your lawyer and an account to check on your lawyers
When you read the complaint, it's hard to see or know the back-story of what else had been going on that the FBI was aware of because those details aren't in the complaint.
However, a newspaper like the NY Times with good crackerjack investigative reporters got those back story details and printed them. Here's a few goodies from The NYT article that I read;
Kurland was doing wire transfers of huge amounts of money out of the lottery winners accounts because he had access to them as well as the winners themselves. He was transferring the money to his associates accounts and they then lavished themselves by using that money to buy mansions, jets, country club memberships, expensive jewelry etc. They also kicked back money to Kurland for performing the wire transfers.
One of Kurland's associates was a long time member of The Columbo crime family in New York City and The FBI has been watching him for years. He was heard to say on the wire tap tapes "The FBI has been watching me for years. So what? I laugh at them." It could be that The FBI stumbled upon what Kurland and his associates had been doing. It's possible that none of the winners approached The FBI with a complaint because they may not have had any idea that Kurland was robbing them blind. The now deceased father of guy who was a Columbo Family member was also a mafioso. While he was alive, The FBI was well aware of him being a Captain in The Columbo Family. In the past, his son was tried but was found not guilty of mafia related crimes.
The threats that were made to do bodily harm were made against a man who owned a jewelery store. He "borrowed" $250,000 from Kurland's associates and had promised to pay them back with $400,000 in a set period of time. Except he didn't. As heard on the wire tap tapes, the mobster then called him threatening to "rip every tooth out of your son's head." Kurland was not named in the count within the complaint that detailed the threats.
Last but not least, the law firm on Long Island that Kurland was a partner in was asked for a comment. Their comment was simply "We are working to remove Mr. Kurland as a partner." If Kurland is found guilty, or if he negotiates a plea deal, his days as a lawyer are over. My guess is that he'll eventually be disbarred. G5
On a lunch break with this work from home schedule and decided to check lp news. I almost fell out of my chair. I am shocked.