In New York, a fraudulent lawyer lured $ 107 million from lottery winners

A New York lawyer fraudulently defrauded the lottery winners who hired him to manage their investments, $ 107 million. He stated in an interview several years ago that lottery winners can be easy targets for scammers. The edition writes about it Forbes.

The essence of the charge

The Brooklyn Federal Attorney has accused Long Island lawyer Jason Kurland of defrauding lottery winners into managing their funds.

On the morning of August 18, Kurland was arrested along with three other men who allegedly used the money of numerous lottery winners for private jets, expensive travel and yachts.

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One of those arrested, Christopher Chierchio, is believed to be linked to the Gambino crime family, prosecutors said. The Gambino family is one of the "five families" that control organized crime in New York, in other words, the mafia.

Fraudulent scheme

Kurland managed to win over his clients - the winners of the lottery - and convince them that he would help them increase their winnings. The scheme was as follows: clients transferred funds to him, a fraudulent lawyer transferred the received money for business transactions controlled by Chiercio and other defendants in exchange for kickbacks.

Lottery winners paid Kurland from $ 75 thousand to $ 200 thousand in advance for his services, as well as monthly payments in the amount of $ 15 thousand to $ 50 thousand.

Jeweler named Gregory Altieri received a $ 250 loan from lottery winners; when Altieri could not get him back, two more of the defendants, Frangesco Russo and Francis Smookler, rushed to torture him and even threatened to kill his family.

Interestingly, in an interview with Vice in 2016, Kurland said that lottery winners can be easy targets for scammers: "Many of these winners are not sophisticated enough to see this (cheating - Ed.), So you really have to rely on professionals." ...

How did you manage to reveal the scheme?

The defendants' phones were tapped for several months. Investigators recorded conversations during which the scammers discussed the scheme and how they could cover up the theft if they were ever caught.

They are now facing multiple charges, including wiretapping fraud and money laundering.

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One of the victims of the swindler lawyer was the record $ 1,5 billion jackpot winner from South Carolina, who snatched the prize in October. The winner, who remained anonymous, chose a lump sum of $ 877, the largest payout to a single winner in US history.