For the Massachusetts father and son who have "won" the lottery more than 14K times, their streak of luck ended Monday.That's when they were imprisoned for lottery fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Yousef Jaafar (left) and his father, Ali, were sent to prison by a federal judge in Boston on Monday and ordered to repay all profits from their discount scheme. (Image: Massachusetts Lottery)
Watertown's Ali Ja'far, 63, and Youssef Ja'far, 29, run an industrial-scale ticket-caching scheme called 'Discounter' or '10th Percent', which has grossed $8 million over eight years. I was. Jaafars then lied on his tax returns and defrauded the IRS of about $2100 million.
10 percent
Prosecutors say the two bought cheap lottery tickets for cash from gamblers in Massachusetts and formed a relationship with a convenience store owner to facilitate the transaction.
Some states deduct federal taxes and child support owed by lottery winners from winnings over a certain threshold ($600 in Massachusetts).
As such, some of the winners sell their tickets to underground ticket money changers, which are usually sold at a 10% discount, hence the name "discount" or "10%".
The state lottery commission is currently in the process of revoking or suspending the licenses of more than 40 lottery operators who received commissions from the Ja'far family for referring winners to discount businesses.
Ali Jaafar, who was convicted in December 2022, was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Monday, while his son received just over four years in prison.U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton also ordered the pair to pay $12 million in damages and forfeiture of profits from their businesses.
sophisticated tax fraud
The Ja'fars came to the attention of authorities in 2019 when the Massachusetts Lottery Commission (MGC) noticed that Ali Ja'far was the top individual lottery winner of the year.His sons Youssef and Mohammed were third and fourth respectively.
Mohamed Jaafar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS in November 2022 and is awaiting sentencing.
Investigators later discovered that the Jaafars had claimed winnings on their tax returns while claiming equivalent fake gambling losses as offsets.
この事件の核心は、精巧な税金詐欺です」と、ジョシュア・レヴィ合衆国検事代行は声明で述べています。「10年以上にわたって、この親子チームは[宝くじ委員会]とIRSを欺き、苦労して稼いだ納税者のドルを何百万ドルも手に入れた。“These defendants worked together to recruit a broad network of co-conspirators to spread the lottery scam throughout Massachusetts and repeatedly lied to government officials to avoid detection,” he added.
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