"Lottery Lawyer" Jason Kurland charged with robbing jackpot winners of millions

Comment #57

Artist77 — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:47:11 GMT

Thank you. Regarding the post above with the comment about those of us saying we would have selected this attorney, the poster is missing the point. Kurland and his firm raised no red flags on any level. We were not privy to him selling personal investments and a few of us would have known that was improper. Perhaps securing an additional unrelated personal attorney to check in with the winner a few times a year would have helped. A winner should not delegate everything to one party.

Comment #56

cottoneyedjoe — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 06:10:40 GMT

Well said. I haven't been keeping up with lottery gossip since I don't buy tickets these days, and was pretty floored to see this news. What a sweet gig Kurland had all these years as the most prominent lottery lawyer in the country. Really is a shame to see it ruined over such greed.

Comment #55

Stat$talker — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 16:37:36 GMT

shame, Shame, SHAME..!!!

JK and his band of Thieves has now made it much more difficult for Jackpot Winners to trust ANY Lottery Lawyers...!!

But there's also something to be said of anyone so nieve, as to put all their eggs in 1 basket so to speak..!!

Just as any good Financial Advisor would advise a Client to diversify their Portfolio..

The same holds true for the stashing or Deposit of your Jackpot winnings... never keep entire funds in 1 place..yet alone, with 1 person... and a... [ More ]

Comment #54

paymentplan-man — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:25:52 GMT

Oh boy......wish we can bring back all the posters who said they would hire this guy if they ever won big. LMFAO

BTW I hope you all have been safe. I haven't posted for a while....trying to survive through the apocalypse and all ya know

Comment #53

Raven62 — Sun, 23 Aug 2020 16:31:01 GMT

Vet your professional team before you hire them:

https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/how-to-vet-candidates

Comment #52

Artist77 — Sun, 23 Aug 2020 14:36:38 GMT

Virginia is anonymous only for wins over $10 million.

Comment #51

HoLeeKau — Sun, 23 Aug 2020 13:12:45 GMT

I know! I had his website bookmarked. The lottery still isn't anonymous here.

Comment #50

music* — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 19:55:55 GMT

Gloria C. Mackenzie of Florida should take your advice MsBee18. She trusted her son and was taken advantage of. Beware of who you trust with your money.

Trust is an important word in the English language.

Comment #49

MsBee18 — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 19:09:39 GMT

You really can't put your trust in someone a 100% with your money. This attorney dealt with people with high sums of money multi-millionaires. New money at that. It's probably easy to take advantage of those people. You either watch the money and account for every penny or pay a group to check each for checks and balances.

Comment #48

music* — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 15:30:35 GMT

Those, small group of guinea pigs are volunteers who are giving their lives for what they believe in. Without them we may not find vaccines. Safe vaccines as well.

The State of Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State. Which is a proud tradition.

Individual citizens have accomplished amazing things as volunteers. Our military is an all volunteer force.

Comment #47

Artist77 — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 13:55:24 GMT

It can be avoided very easily in court and confidential information can be viewed in private with just the judge. It happens all the time and that info is protected under state law. He or she can be referred to as Jane or John Doe, etc.

Comment #46

Lionking97 — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 10:19:58 GMT

Maybe, I don't know how it can be avoided. She figures prominently in this case.

Nothing may happen to Mr. Kurland as he is the keeper of those kind of secrets.

In regard to the $1.5 Billion winner, because the tax revenue benefit to the state of South Carolina was so great, and as the media reported, state officials didn t want to see that gravy train just disappear, I would bet that the SC Lottery officials broke their own state law and identified the Jackpot Winner from the convenie... [ More ]

Comment #45

KY Floyd — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 07:06:07 GMT

The American public needs honest updates of when vaccines will be made available.

They're already available, but only to a small group of guinea pigs, and it's not yet certain that they're effective or safe. Based on what I've seen you and I shouldn't be expecting anything to be available until at least early next year, and it's possible that it could take a good bit longer.

Comment #44

welington — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 03:07:38 GMT

Greed at it's best .If you can't trust your lawyer just put the money in the bank live off the interest . Multiple banks

Comment #43

noise-gate — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 17:05:40 GMT

Do l have an update? Well l am working overtime in my garage putting my own concoction together will be doing trial therapy on family members before bringing it to market .. which by the way is a lie. But stay tuned..

Comment #42

music* — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 16:53:18 GMT

Oh, about the vaccine... Do you have an update on when a vaccine will be available to Americans?

Telling between a lie and the truth is at the heart of America. Politicians tell both the truth and the lies in order to get re-elected. They answer to their constituents. Leadership is when America is placed first. The U.S. Constitution is still alive.

America sees both the rich and the poor. Equality is in our founding documents. This battle will continue for eternity.

Comment #41

noise-gate — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 16:40:19 GMT

Honesty in politics ended with the death of Lincoln. Nowadays politicians invent their own brand of truth. Just because politicians go around kissing babies handing out lollipops, that in of itself does not mean they honest. In some cases, lies are viewed as the new truth. Just take a look around. Oh, about the vaccine...

Comment #40

music* — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 16:03:35 GMT

The American public needs honest updates of when vaccines will be made available. I have heard different times.

Comment #39

JoeBigLotto — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 15:10:21 GMT

The biggest problem is that people love money more than they love you. So if you win the lottery that is fantastic but you are still just another obstacle course to the money.

Comment #38

Artist77 — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 11:34:03 GMT

Fees for name law firm partners typically are over $500 an hour. $1000 per hour is not uncommon for a well known law firm partner or a senior partner.

Comment #37

KY Floyd — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 07:40:02 GMT

I think the fees are very high

It would be helpful to know how the fees were determined. Somebody who wins $900 million before taxes may well require more legal and financial services than somebody who wins $10 or $50 million, or they might not. I'm really curious if those fees are all based on actual work, or if he just convinced those with deeper pockets to pay more for a given amount of work.

Even at $500 an hour 200k would cover 400 hours of work. I'm willing to consider that there mi... [ More ]

Comment #36

scentcrazy — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 03:20:13 GMT

Should be had we ever WON the big one

Comment #35

scentcrazy — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 01:41:58 GMT

To me this is huge. He was already the go to lottery expert that media outlets often went to for sound bites. I am sure more than a few of us would have considered using his services had we ever one the big one.

As if winning wasn't hard enough, finding competent, trustworthy and honest professionals is a whole 'nother ballgame.

Comment #34

Artist77 — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 23:12:45 GMT

Hey Lejardin:

Been doing the work at home thing since mid March due to Covid in DC. DC is still in phase 2 and no phase 3 in sight. Most offices , if not all , are still closed. If you are work at home, they expect you to be constantly available so I feel like I never get a break. And this may go to the end of the year. Miss my life in DC during the day. Constant zoom meetings...lol.

Hope you have been staying well.

Comment #33

lejardin — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 21:54:45 GMT

Hey Artist long time......not sure who has been hiding you or me lol.

I am obviously out of touch since I think the fees are very high but then again I am not a lottery winner, unfortunately.

Comment #32

Artist77 — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 21:49:09 GMT

Well since they disclosed their fees upfront, that is not an issue and is what the firm was supposed to do. That amount of money is not unreasonable. Even the monthly fees are not unreasonable if the client asked them to oversee the money. The issue is the theft of the money and steering the winner to personal investments where there was a conflict of interest.

Comment #31

Artist77 — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 21:43:50 GMT

He ruined a good career!

I planned to see him also if I won and I am an attorney!!!

No attorney should be telling you what specific investments to buy. Generally yes but not steering you to specific funds. There are also ethical rules that bar attorneys from personally profiting so yes, he will lose his license. For example, when I had a trust drawn up for property and other assets (I went to a specialist trust attorney), she reminded me as a client that she was not permitted to serve as a... [ More ]

Comment #30

JoeBigLotto — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 19:27:03 GMT

I was right l said the first thing l do is fire my lawyer and financial advicers. Nobody tells me how to spend my money.

Comment #29

Artist77 — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 17:25:14 GMT

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.

Comment #28

GiveFive — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 13:20:55 GMT

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... [ More ]

Comment #27

welington — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 09:33:19 GMT

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

Comment #26

frank0sport16 — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 07:19:47 GMT

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.

Comment #25

MrLotto$ — Thu, 20 Aug 2020 05:01:39 GMT

They should've done it themseves... Smh

Comment #24

lejardin — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 22:17:13 GMT

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 scammer... [ More ]

Comment #23

dpoly1 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 20:00:13 GMT

Make sure that you go to a Lawyer

SURE

Comment #22

dannyct — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 19:39:08 GMT

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.

Comment #21

LotterMe57 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 17:33:38 GMT

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.

Comment #20

darthfury78 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 16:53:35 GMT

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.

Comment #19

frank0sport16 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 15:13:08 GMT

@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 u... [ More ]

Comment #18

noise-gate — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 14:14:50 GMT

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.

Comment #17

GiveFive — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 12:33:09 GMT

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 t... [ More ]

Comment #16

CDanaT — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 12:27:50 GMT

Hopefully, should these allegations be proven true, these sharks get caged for many years.

Comment #15

music* — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 11:35:23 GMT

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 defen... [ More ]

Comment #14

Bleudog101 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 10:52:49 GMT

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.

Comment #13

KY Floyd — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 06:59:31 GMT

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 bee... [ More ]

Comment #12

TheGameGrl — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 06:56:11 GMT

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.

Comment #11

quicksloth35 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 05:34:38 GMT

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

Comment #10

TheMeatman2005 — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 04:36:36 GMT

Lottery Lawyer and Three Co-Conspirators Indicted in $107 Million Scheme to Defraud Lottery-Winning Clients

Taken from Justice.gov

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney s Office

Eastern District of New York

Comment #9

Grovel — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 04:17:26 GMT

Why would anyone be taking investment advice from a lawyer

Comment #8

Big Joey — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 03:08:15 GMT

Gasp

Thud

Twitching in a Grand Mal Seizure

Yikes

I was going to use him, If I ever won big

Comment #7

gr8ter — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 03:04:08 GMT

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.

Comment #6

lejardin — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 01:12:17 GMT

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 me... [ More ]

Comment #5

lejardin — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:41:25 GMT

So much for trust me I will help you .

Comment #4

hearsetrax — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:40:57 GMT

why am I not surprised by this story ??

and even worse b4 Virginia became an anonymous state, I was going to call this guy

Comment #3

andl — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 23:52:31 GMT

Will the identity of the 1.5 billion dollar win be revealed in court? How do you conceal that

Comment #2

NY10 — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 23:43:12 GMT

What ???? Ha ha ha ha

Thief in so called gentleman s clothing ha ha ha ha

Comment #1

GiveFive — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 23:30:05 GMT

How long will it be until we'll see this story on American Greed ? G5

"Lottery Lawyer" Jason Kurland charged with robbing jackpot winners of millions

Lottery Post — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 22:48:56 GMT

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