A LAWYER has warned that lottery winners should not sell their tickets in a bid to avoid paying taxes.
The legal expert’s advice comes just days after a father and son were given prison sentences for lottery fraud.
Haseeb (@haseeblegal) warned winners should not accept any offers from people who say they would buy their ticket at a cash discount.
The TikToker warned that winners may face legal trouble if they are caught.
Haseeb said the type of people who may engage in cash-discount schemes are those who don’t want to be identified by lottery officials before receiving their prize.
Winners may not want the authorities to know that they might have any outstanding child support payments, or taxes that must be deducted from the winnings before they are paid out.
Authorities have described the scheme as “ten percenting.” This is because the person who buys the ticket retains a proportion of the winnings.
Ali Jaafar, 63, and Yousef Jaafar, 29, were given prison sentences of five years, and 50 months respectively after they were convicted.
Prosecutors said they cashed in more than 14,000 lottery tickets between 2011 and 2020, illegally claiming more than $20million in winnings.
Yousef Jaafar claimed more than 500 prizes in 2018, including one for $100,000, according to court documents seen by Mass Live.
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Ali Jaafar was the number one ticket casher in Massachusetts for 2019, while Yousef Jaafar was fourth.
Prosecutors said the Jaafars cheated federal authorities out of $6million in taxes, per the US Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts.
In December 2022, both were found guilty of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service.
They were also convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and lying on their tax returns.
The Jaafars received more than $1.2million in tax refunds and claimed gambling losses.
Prosecutors said it was an attempt designed to avoid federal taxes.
Joshua Levy, the Acting US Attorney in Massachusetts, said: “This case is, at its core, an elaborate tax fraud.
“Over the course of a decade, this father-and-son team defrauded the [lottery commission] and the IRS to pocket millions of hard-earned taxpayers’ dollars.”
Joleen Simpson, Special Agent in charge of the International Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, said the Jaafars built a “vast network” of co-conspirators.
Simpson said: “Tax violations have been erroneously referred to as victimless crimes, but it’s the honest law-abiding citizen who is harmed when someone tries to manipulate our nation’s tax system.”
The pair must pay more than $6million in restitution fees and forfeit any profits they made from the scheme.
The attorney representing Ali and Yousef Jaafar told CNN on Tuesday that they intend to appeal the sentencing.
https://www.the-sun.com/news/8214036/lottery-lawyer-warning-selling-tickets-taxes/