In a story that reads like a Hollywood script, a Massachusetts father and his two sons have been exposed for orchestrating an intricate scheme to defraud the lottery of over $20 million. Ali Jaafar, 63, of Watertown, along with his sons Yousef and Mohamed, utilized a covert network of convenience stores and tax-avoidant scratch-off winners to execute their elaborate plan. The saga unfolded over nearly a decade, involving an escalating number of lottery tickets and an intricate money-laundering tactic known as “10 percenting.”
Ali Jaafar initiated the fraudulent scheme around 2011, initially claiming 136 lottery tickets with a total value of $217,000. As the years progressed, the trio expanded their operation, with Ali claiming 214 tickets worth $367,000 in the following year and a staggering 867 tickets amounting to almost $1.3 million in 2013. However, the real innovation in the plan was the introduction of his sons into the plot in 2013.
The Jaafars employed a sophisticated form of money laundering known as “10 percenting.” In this method, actual lottery winners enlist intermediaries, such as the Jaafars, to claim their prize on their behalf. In exchange, the intermediaries receive a cut, typically ranging from 10 to 25% of the winnings. This arrangement enables the genuine winners to receive their prize without shouldering the burden of hefty taxes, while the intermediaries evade taxes by claiming gambling losses on their filings.
By 2019, the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission’s Executive Director Michael R. Sweeney became suspicious of the Jaafars’ high-frequency wins and launched an investigation. In May 2019, the Lottery Commission suspended the trio, but the Jaafars attempted to cover their tracks by enlisting friends to cash out the tickets on their behalf. Simultaneously, the IRS was also closing in, as an undercover agent sold winning tickets to a convenience store clerk, leading to the exposure of the Jaafars’ stand-ins.
More from LittleThings: Grubhub Driver Shoves Mouthfuls Of Customer's Food Into His Mouth Before Delivering It
According to the New York Post, all three of these men have had to face the consequences for their actions, which include prison time and not being able to participate in the lottery for a long time.
To view their whole story, click the video!
