Inside a Massachusetts family’s elaborate scheme to defraud the lottery out of $20M

A Massachusetts father and his two sons used a covert network of convenience stores and tax-shy scratch-off winners to defraud the lottery of more than $20 million, officials said. Ali Jaafar, 63, of Watertown, had tried to pass off his winning streak as luck — but the lottery commission launched an investigation into the “factually or statistically improbable” results, according to the Boston Globe’s reporting on the saga Tuesday. He started the elaborate scheme around 2011, when he claimed 136 lottery tickets worth $217,000, according to the newspaper. The following year, he claimed 214 tickets for a $367,000 total payout, and in 2013 – the same year he roped his sons Yousef and Mohamed into the plot – he nabbed 867 tickets worth almost $1.3 million, the outlet noted. The trio cashed in using a form of money laundering known as “10 percenting,” in which real lottery winners enlist middle men in order to avoid coughing up hefty taxes on their winnings. Read more at https://nypost.com/2023/10/25/news/how-a-massachusetts-family-scammed-the-lottery-out-of-20-million/ #massachusetts #lottery #fraud The New York Post is your source for breaking news, news about New York, sports, business, entertainment, opinion, real estate, culture, fashion, and more. Subscribe to New York Post Sports: https://www.youtube.com/c/nypostsports Catch the latest news here: https://nypost.com/ Follow The New York Post on: Twitter - https://twitter.com/nypost Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/NYPost