Twelve individuals and three stores in Boston, North Reading and Chelsea have been indicted in connection with an ongoing scheme to rob the state of tax revenue by laundering lottery winnings and lying under oath on numerous lottery claim forms, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. The Boston Globe stories, written by the same Spotlight team that had exposed child sexual abuse in the Catholic church (and served as the basis for an Oscar-winning movie)--foretold the end of the story. Two true winners, Peter Marano and Adam Derebala, were identified and stand charged respectively for tax evasion and failing to file a tax return. She holds a bachelor's degree from Tufts University and a master's degree from Northwestern University. 9 Virginia State Lottery Scandal A lock icon ( Muhammad Khan, 52, of Medford, is facing one count of conspiracy to evade taxes. It stars Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening and is . This Couple Found a Math Error in the Lottery and Made $27 Million (Playing Over and Over for 55 Weeks), the Stanford PhD who reportedly gamed the Texas lottery. Top-requested sites to log in to services provided by the state. Bets are not effective until accepted by the Lottery's on-line computer processing system prior to the drawing of the winning . He wanted to get hold of a copy of the guidelines for the game, which would outline precisely how the prize money was distributed. Using his mathematical abilities, Jerry finds a way to ensure profits while buying an enormous number of WinFall tickets. Follow Boston.com on Instagram (Opens in a New Tab), Follow Boston.com on Twitter (Opens in a New Tab), Like Boston.com on Facebook (Opens in a New Tab), Watertown father and son, who cashed over $20 million in winning tickets, found guilty of lottery scam, Heres what is on the 2022 Massachusetts election ballot, Here are the states two latest newly minted scratch ticket multimillionaires, False Statement Under Penalty of Perjury (2 counts), Attempting to Impede/Obstruct Administration of Massachusetts Tax Laws. Are They Still Together? Financial investigation was conducted by Senior Financial Investigator James OHara of AG Healeys Gaming Enforcement Division, as well as Financial Investigator James Donahue of the DOR Criminal Investigations Bureau. Massachusetts Lottery faced precisely that challenge in 2003, when its Mass Millions game went without a winner for an entire year. When nobody won the jackpot until the jackpot money reached $5 million, the prize money got rolled down to the lesser prizes in the absence of a jackpot winner in the next play. The business Richdale, located at 4 Lowell Road in Reading, is facing one count of conspiracy to evade taxes. State Attorney General Maura Healeys office said the con, allegedly perpetrated by store owners and clerks along with two Massachusetts State Lottery winners, involved laundering lottery winnings and lying under oath on numerous lottery claim forms.. This arrangement allows the true winners to avoid financial obligations, including state and federal taxes, officials said. But the roll-down didnt arrive two draws, or even three draws, later. Thrilling Prizes Mega Millions Drawing Tomorrow, 11:00 pm Est Jackpot Est Cash: $74.3 million Powerball Drawing Today, 10:59 pm Est Jackpot Est Cash: $66.9 million Megabucks Doubler Drawing on Mar 1, 9:00 pm Est Jackpot The arrangement allows for the true lottery winners to avoid financial obligations, including state and federal taxes.Related content: Father, sons face federal charges in $21M Massachusetts state lottery scamAccording to the AG's office, store owners and employees funneled winning tickets to Obey, Grossman and their runners. Two true winners, Marano and Derebala, were identified and stand charged, respectively, for tax evasion and failing to file a tax return. Related content: Father, sons face federal charges in $21M Massachusetts state lottery scam. State law prohibits the unlawful assignment of winning lottery tickets. Must be 18 years or older to play the Lottery. NT Lucky Variety at 137 Arlington St. in Chelsea was charged with conspiracy to evade taxes. All of these charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The 12 defendants include store owners, employees and ticket-cashers who are alleged to have been involved from April 2020 through May 2021 in a "ten-percenting" scheme in which they claimed the . In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area. This article has been adapted from Adam Kucharski's book, The Perfect Bet: How Science and Math Are Taking the Luck Out of Gambling. Follow Amy on Twitter @amysokolow. And some stores would refuse to serve teams altogether. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. The math is explained at greater length in a recent, 10,000-wordarticle on The Huffington Post (which I highly recommend). Stay up to date with everything Boston. The alleged tactic, called ten-percenting, happens when one person claims winning tickets and keeps a percentage of the prize, as high as 10% to 20%, as fee from the true winner, according to the AGs office. Twelve men along with three stores in Chelsea, Boston and North Reading have been indicted in an alleged money laundering scheme to hide lottery winnings and pilfer tax revenue from the state. Paritosh Patel, 48, of Reading, is facing one count of conspiracy to evade taxes. Both are alleged to have circumvented the legal ticket-claiming process.The "ten-percenting" scheme is designed to defeat government collection of back taxes through the Department of Revenue Intercept Program, which is an automated process used to intercept and collect Massachusetts State Lottery Commission winning payouts over $600 to satisfy delinquent debt. Easily find the app in the Play Market and install it for signing your masslottery. As well as waiting for an appropriate jackpot sizeone close to but below $1.6 millionthe MIT group had to fill out around 700,000 betting slips, all by hand. A Massachusetts woman who accidentally tossed out a $1 million lottery ticket eventually collected her winnings thanks to the kindness and honesty of the owners of the convenience store where. After a prize of $1.59 million went unclaimed on August 12, the lottery estimated that the jackpot for the next draw would be around $1.68 million. He has been identified as an employee of Grab N Go located at 367 Washington Avenue in Chelsea.The business Underground Express, located at 31 Winter Place in Boston, is facing one count of conspiracy to evade taxes.The business Richdale, located at 4 Lowell Road in Reading, is facing one count of conspiracy to evade taxes.The business NT Lucky Variety, located at 137 Arlington St. in Chelsea, is facing one count of conspiracy to evade taxes.Healey's office alleges that from April 2020 through May 2021, the defendant who are ticket-cashers, store owners or employees purchased winning lottery tickets from the true winners for cash, at a discount to the value of the tickets. With this game, players must choose six numbers from 1 to 49 and, as usual, match them to six drawn numbers. The state introduced a keno game in 2013 that offers players the chance . Jerry Selbee said in the Huffington Post article, "I'm just asking. With a roll-down surely only two or three draws away, betting syndicates started to prepare. Box 859036 Braintree, MA 02185-9036 Keep a copy of all claim documents for your records. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Tuesday that the following defendants were indicted by a statewide grand jury of the following charges: Healey's office alleges that from April 2020 through May 2021, the defendant who are ticket-cashers, store owners or employees purchased winning lottery tickets from the true winners for cash, at a discount to the value of the tickets. A ticket cost $1. As he studied the game, Harvey realized that it was easier to make money on WinFall than on other lotteries. Marge Selbee, Jerrys wife, accompanies him in the new endeavor. After cashing in 13,000 Massachusetts lottery tickets, father and sons now accused of $21 million fraud, Statistically improbable: Massachusetts father and sons accused of $21 million lottery fraud were on authorities radars before federal charges. In 2003, Selbee had noticed a loophole in a Michigan lottery game that also included roll-downs. John Heller, 73, of Revere, is facing one count of conspiracy to evade taxes. Using his mathematical abilities, Jerry finds a way to ensure profits while buying an enormous number of WinFall tickets. Defendants were states top individual lottery ticket cashers as result of alleged fraud, claiming more than $20 million in Massachusetts lottery winnings. Still: $27 million gross They'd been vilified in the. Within a year, The Boston Globe had published a story about the loophole in WinFall and the betting syndicates that had profited from it. To claim a prize by mail, send the signed winning ticket, a completed claim form, proof of your Social Security number, and a copy of your ID to: Massachusetts State Lottery P.O. Whereas clever roulette players have only to outwit the casino, lottery syndicates often have to compete with other teams attempting to win the same jackpot. The Lottery said it is in the process of suspending the Lottery retail licenses for each store and removing all Lottery equipment from them. Twelve people and three stores in Boston, Chelsea and North Reading have been indicted in connection with an ongoing scheme to rob the state of Massachusetts of tax revenue by laundering lottery winnings and lying under oath on numerous lottery claim forms. This page is located more than 3 levels deep within a topic. Thank you for your website feedback! Ali Jaafar, 63, and his two sons Mohamed Jaafar, 31, and Yousef Jaafa, 28, were charged on August 23 with over 12 counts of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion in what officials reportedly dubbed a "ticket cashing scheme." Amy Sokolow is a general assignment and statehouse reporter for The Boston Herald, a position she started in June 2021. Over the course of nine years, it worked, to the point that their estimated total lottery haul was almost $27 million. Problem Gambling Helpline: 1-800-327-5050 www.gamblinghelplinema.org Even if WinFall hadnt been canceled, the Boston University syndicate told the inspector general that the game wouldnt have remained profitable for betting teams. In addition, defendants also stand accused of presenting the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission with false claim forms in which they declared under the pains and penalties of perjury that the winnings were their own. 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