Massachusetts father and sons accused of defrauding Lottery of $21 million

Comment #21

KY Floyd — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 06:43:38 GMT

I wouldn't call it an assumption . It's an allegation

The allegation is arguably based on an assumption, but the assumption is similar to the assumption that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. If he had won that many times by buying tickets his results would be really close to statistically normal. There's no getting around that, and it means that (as the article says) he'd have had to be buying an average of over 500 tickets per hour. While that's theoretically possible you can be sure tha... [ More ]

Comment #20

Bleudog101 — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:49:32 GMT

The last sentence speaks volumes. Here it is called rocket docket, will ask the Prosecutor next time if that is the same as an Alfred plea. That means you are not saying you are guilty or not, but there is overwhelming evidence to convict you on the charge(s).

Comment #19

Bleudog101 — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:47:06 GMT

Though not on Federal cases, the Prosecutor did say about the Feds when a gun is used in a Federal crime that EACH bullet will add five years to the sentence. Each bullet gets entered into evidence.

Comment #18

GiveFive — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:21:35 GMT

I wouldn't call it an assumption . It's an allegation but there's no need to argue over the verbiage.

Yes, the Fed's will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants fraudulently tried to evade additional witholdings, which they might not be able to do in order to convince a jury to find them guilty. That's one reason why other charges were filed. If the Fed's dont get them on fraud, they'll be happy with a conviction on income tax evasion, or conspiracy. Wire fraud is probab... [ More ]

Comment #17

GiveFive — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:01:27 GMT

True. The Fed's are the toughest. Federal judges are called Hard cases by criminals. These guys are in deep doo-doo. G5

Comment #16

TheGameGrl — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 18:09:58 GMT

The assumption by the lottery is that 'every/most' tickets funneled thru were done so to avoid child support/ liens or whatever the state has as it's condition of additional withholding. Wouldn't they have to prove that? Beyond a shadow of a doubt? They would have to do ALOT of gathering culprits ,, prove it was the little guy who was 'avoiding' his/her state ordered obligations. Good luck with that.

Will be interesting to read the court minutes on how both sides argue these charges..... [ More ]

Comment #15

Bleudog101 — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:47:04 GMT

As a Juror I can attest that Federal court does not play vs what states do sometimes.

Comment #14

GiveFive — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 12:20:35 GMT

It's incredibly confusing is correct.

What the article does not specify is exactly who the plaintiff's are. The charges are federal charges brought by a federal prosecutor - a US Attorney. The charges are over a dozen counts of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion.

According to the United States Department of Justice, one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS comes with a maximum sentence of five years in prison, one count of money laundering has a 20-year maximum sentence, and one co... [ More ]

Comment #13

Stat$talker — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 08:00:09 GMT

I think maybe the bulk of the suspicious winning tickets, came into Lottery Headquarters over the norm in a crowded period of time...That, maybe was the Red Flag trigger....

But in the way You just laid it out.. It doesn't immediately draw attention...

Comment #12

grwurston — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 06:57:27 GMT

Breaking it down.

13,000 tix/8 years= 1,625 tix per year.

1,625 tix/52 weeks= 31.25 tix per week.

31.25 tix/7 days= 4.46 tix per day.

Comment #11

KY Floyd — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 03:01:00 GMT

But the 25% withheld for taxes is $3,750,000. Where did that money go?

The IRS withholding only applies to wins of more than $5000, so in theory you could claim prizes totaling a billion dollars and not have a dime in federal withholdings. Presumably the majority of the money was won from prizes big enough to be reported but below the $5000 threshold that triggers federal withholdings.

how is any of that defrauding the lottery?

None of that defrauds the lottery, and they certainly di... [ More ]

Comment #10

Tony Numbers — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 01:41:23 GMT

So they assumed the tax obligation of the actual winner. In turn for a reduced payment to the actual winner as a fee for the service. So the actual winner has no tax liability. How dare the lottery use the argument that no one could be winning that much. If someone doesn't want to pay the tax they should be allowed to let someone else cash for them.

Comment #9

Gambler4Life — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:55:34 GMT

Hahaha!! Right you are

Comment #8

Cruzincat — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 21:40:49 GMT

They withheld the taxes but the Jaffars filed their tax returns showing deductions for gambling losses and ended up getting refunds. The part about the refunds is in the story.

Comment #7

noise-gate — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 20:48:02 GMT

This is one of many stories that LP has run in the past at least we seeing the light at the end of the Jaafer tunnel. I am looking forward to finding out the following: The lead hand lottery winner from Canada that supposedly gipped his colleagues out of millions. The teenage son that bought a scratcher for his Dad sitting out in the car worth $5 mil only to be denied the winnings since the lottery said he was under 18 at the time.

Comment #6

TheGameGrl — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 20:36:25 GMT

So to summarize the states' position. We have proof that you the player will always lose more then win.

To the players: it's your dollar. Spend it or save it how you wish.

Were the accused ?: store owners /retail licensed for the lottery?

I could understand if they were retailers then they violated the contract rule.

If the guys were avg Joe's willing to take a hit, then that is open to question. Clearly they 'claimed' the values on the tax. They didn't hide the values. So w... [ More ]

Comment #5

Stack47 — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 20:21:37 GMT

conducted a ticket-cashing scheme commonly referred to as ten-percenting

The lottery was cashing their tickets over $5000 and withholding 25% for taxes.

Ali only paid $24,500 in federal taxes on the $15 million in lottery winnings he reported.

But the 25% withheld for taxes is $3,750,000. Where did that money go?

And why would anyone think they actually bought that many tickets?

Oh and how is any of that defrauding the lottery

Comment #4

ieatdirt — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 19:11:47 GMT

Yeah not sure what is sadder: the fact they did it or the fact the lottery allowed it to happen

Comment #3

Mata Garbo — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 17:57:38 GMT

These guys started doing this in 2011, the authorities didn't figure it out until 2019. If these knuckleheads had not been so greedy they could have shut everything down in 2017 and kept all the money they had collected. Apparently there were a lot of customers who owed child support or who wanted to avoid taxes. You buy a scratch off and win $50,000......but instead going to Lottery Headquarters, you sell the ticket to Ali or one of his sons for $35,000 or maybe $40,000, you never have to notif... [ More ]

Comment #2

Stat$talker — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 17:16:36 GMT

I've long said the State Lottery's Motto iz... We can Screw YOU,.. but nnaahh, YOU can't Screw US.!

Now the real question iz.. Why aren't the Fedz investigating these cRoOkEd Lotteries with 15 min to 1 hr cutoff time before the actual Drawing?

Hell, I've got STATISTICAL data that clearly says what's happenin here in Ga is suspicious..!!.. but noticed how LOs relied on Probability Statistics in support of their claim of suspicion...Huuummm.. They know that Math doesn't lie ..... [ More ]

Comment #1

Tony Numbers — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 16:43:49 GMT

Didn't they know only the lottery has permission to steal via the taxes

Massachusetts father and sons accused of defrauding Lottery of $21 million

Lottery Post — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 15:00:40 GMT

Statistically improbable number of wins raises red flags

By Kate Northrop

A Massachusetts family is accused of defrauding the Massachusetts Lottery of nearly $21 million in a tax evasion scheme that took place over the past decade.

It wouldn't be farfetched to say that cashing in more than 13,000 winning lottery tickets worth almost $21 million over eight years would be statistically impossible, if not improbable. This many wins could not simply be attributed to sheer luck.

A statis... [ More ]