NY brothers claim $5M win from '06 lottery ticket

Oct 17, 2012, 9:24 am (164 comments)

New York Lottery

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two brothers kept quiet for six years about the $5 million winning lottery ticket they'd bought at their parents' store in Syracuse.

Andy N. Ashkar, 34, of Camillus, and his brother, Nayel N. Ashkar, 36, of Cicero, came forward March 1 of this year to claim the $5 million top prize in the $500,000,000 Extravaganza scratch-off game, lottery officials said.

That was 11 days before the prize would've expired.

"It's unusual, highly unusual," lottery spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman said Tuesday of the six-year lapse on such a large prize.

Andy Ashkar bought the ticket at his parents' Green Ale Market at 2208 E. Fayette St. in Syracuse, in 2006, the lottery said.

Ashkar delayed redeeming it until March 1 of this year, at the lottery's customer service center in Schenectady. The prize would've expired March 12, Hapeman said.

The reason for the delay, according to the lottery's news release: Ashkar was concerned that the winning ticket "could negatively influence his life if he did not plan properly before being publicly introduced."

Ashkar said he did not want the winning ticket to influence his engagement and then marriage, according to the news release.

"The younger brother also said that during that time, he decided to share his winnings with his brother, Nayel, to show his appreciation for all that Nayel had done for him during his life," the news release said.

The lottery's announcement of the winning ticket was delayed for seven months partly because its security unit investigated for possible fraud, as it does whenever the winner is someone related to the owner of the store that sold the ticket, Hapeman said.

"It's part of our routine procedure to put that on retailer hold, where our investigators contact the folks who presented the winning ticket, and also the people from the store," Hapeman said.

After its investigation, which included taking sworn statements from the winners, the lottery determined the scratch-off ticket was bought legitimately, she said.

Sara Ashkar, the wife of Nayel Ashkar, answered the door Tuesday at their home in Cicero. She said news of her family's winnings was spreading fast. Holding both her landline house phone and cell phone, she said family and friends had been calling all afternoon to express their surprise and excitement.

"It's crazy," she said. "Hard to believe. It's still sinking in." She said she's known about the winning ticket for some time but didn't know the announcement would be Tuesday. Nayel Ashkar said he and his brother want to wait for the press conference to tell their story. He didn't know when the press conference would be.

The Ashkars declined to comment further. Andy Ashkar could not be reached for comment.

Andy Ashkar is the business manager at Romano Toyota in East Syracuse. Nayel Ashkar is finance manager at Honda of Ithaca.

Nayel and Sara Ashkar paid $236,000 for their house in Cicero in March 2008, according to The Post-Standard's archives. Andy Ashkar paid $290,000 for his house in Camillus in August 2011, according to the archives.

Lottery officials are aware of gimmicks that retailers have tried to use with scratch-off tickets, Hapeman said. One involves retailers or their associates checking the bar codes on the tickets to look for winners before scratching them off.

That can still be done, "but not without us knowing about it," Hapeman said. Ohio lottery officials last month announced that undercover investigators had caught a dozen clerks and store owners using barcode scanning to steal winnings. They would scan customers' tickets, see that they were winners, then lie to the customers that they weren't. The clerks or owners would then claim the winnings for themselves or their friends.

The New York Lottery regularly changes its security measures to detect fraud, Hapeman said. Lottery officials have uncovered cases of retailers who weren't entitled to the tickets they were claiming, and those people were denied the prize, she said.

"There are as many things to look out for as there are retailers and human beings and all their frailties," Hapeman said. "We just have to make sure our security unit does due diligence. They're trained in ways to protect all of our lottery players."

The lottery will launch an investigation any time it has information that a winning ticket went to the retailer himself, one of his employees, a relative or even a friend of his family, Hapeman said.

"Just in fairness to everyone," she said.

The Green Ale Market, where Andy Ashkar bought the winning ticket, is a rundown store in a tough neighborhood. It was closed and dark Tuesday afternoon. No hours or closed sign was posted. Several customers, including a young boy with a fistful of dollar bills, approached the store and were surprised to see it closed. A cooler with soft drinks and gallons of milk could be seen through the gated front door.

A pile of leaves and a discarded scratch-off ticket sat in the corner of the market's locked entryway.

The lottery had to rush the announcement about the Ashkars because of media inquiries, Hapeman said.

She noted that with all prizes of $1 million or more, the office requires players to attend a news conference to discuss the prize claim and participate in a check presentation.

But the lottery said it has not yet determined a date for the news conference. The brothers are willing to participate, Hapeman said. She didn't know where they kept the $5 million ticket for six years.

Post-Standard

Comments

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

WTH ? tickets are good for 6 years in NY. ?

Original Bey's avatarOriginal Bey

I find it interesting that it took them just 11 days short of the deadline to get their act together. What that money would have done for them 5+ years ago will never do for them today.

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Congrats! to them,,, hope they spend  the money wisely.Dance

golfer1960's avatargolfer1960

The ticket is good for 6-years? How could that be and why did this story leave that important information out?

I don't appreciate that the article releases where they live, work and how much they paid for their houses!

Doesn't that go beyond releasing enough information about the winners to keep the game fair?

Ronnie316

I smell a rat.

surimaribo24's avatarsurimaribo24

pretty strange when did liljimys extended their deadline to cash in tickets ... weird

Todd's avatarTodd

It's a scratch game.

Scratch games expire a year (or 6 months, or whatever the state's expiration period is) after the game ends.  Obviously, that game was being sold for at least five years.

These days, most states end their scratch games after a shorter period, but I guess the NY Lottery kept that one open for a while -- probably because of the missing big winner, who ironically was holding on to the winning ticket purposely.

zinniagirl's avatarzinniagirl

Quote: Originally posted by golfer1960 on Oct 17, 2012

The ticket is good for 6-years? How could that be and why did this story leave that important information out?

I don't appreciate that the article releases where they live, work and how much they paid for their houses!

Doesn't that go beyond releasing enough information about the winners to keep the game fair?

How much you paid for your house and it's adress is all public information here.  All you have to do is go on the county GIS reality information program and you can even see if they paid their last tax bill and how much.

mcginnin56

Having a scratch game go on for several years is not that unusual.

There are several Massachusetts $20 scratchers which began in 2007-2008, that are still being sold today.

States of this size sell upwards of 20 million+ tickets for some of the bigger games, and it takes time to sell them all.

Two of these games are the "Billion Dollar Blockbuster" and "Billion Dollar Bonanza".  (Both $20 scratchers).

Ronnie316

People do continue to buy tickets based on an outstanding big winner.........

I'm sure the state was very happy to sell all those unwanted tickets.

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

I smell a rat.

Are you sure it isn't some sweet pink swine?  Hippy

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Quote: Originally posted by golfer1960 on Oct 17, 2012

The ticket is good for 6-years? How could that be and why did this story leave that important information out?

I don't appreciate that the article releases where they live, work and how much they paid for their houses!

Doesn't that go beyond releasing enough information about the winners to keep the game fair?

I Agree! TMI... but i am pretty sure they moved by now. Leaving

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by mcginnin56 on Oct 17, 2012

Are you sure it isn't some sweet pink swine?  Hippy

It could just be a little fishy What?

petergrfn

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

I smell a rat.

I'm with you. Something smells fishy! Not saying the winners did anything but.....   Who waits 6 years during an awful econ. like this to cash in on a huge lifeline like this?  Why wait 11days before the end of the game?  The ticket was purchased at the Parents store.   How easy would it be for them to tell a customer the winning ticket was only worth $20 and pocket the ticket.  Then wait to see if the customer realizes the mistake...and if they do just say sorry and hand the ticket back.  After 6 years who is going to remember no video would still exist so they can come up with a story about waiting to get everything in order and cash the ticket.  What some people won't do for a couple Million bucks........

 

 

BSOn the other Hand I'm probably full of it!!  LOL    Congrats to the winners.

Todd's avatarTodd

Stop posting meme-type pictures.  Last time I'm saying it.

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

I smell a rat.

Do you think there is some foul play with the brothers?

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by petergrfn on Oct 17, 2012

I'm with you. Something smells fishy! Not saying the winners did anything but.....   Who waits 6 years during an awful econ. like this to cash in on a huge lifeline like this?  Why wait 11days before the end of the game?  The ticket was purchased at the Parents store.   How easy would it be for them to tell a customer the winning ticket was only worth $20 and pocket the ticket.  Then wait to see if the customer realizes the mistake...and if they do just say sorry and hand the ticket back.  After 6 years who is going to remember no video would still exist so they can come up with a story about waiting to get everything in order and cash the ticket.  What some people won't do for a couple Million bucks........

 

 

BSOn the other Hand I'm probably full of it!!  LOL    Congrats to the winners.

A good reason to forbid family members or employees buying tickets from their own place.

This doesn't come close to passing the smell test.

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by petergrfn on Oct 17, 2012

I'm with you. Something smells fishy! Not saying the winners did anything but.....   Who waits 6 years during an awful econ. like this to cash in on a huge lifeline like this?  Why wait 11days before the end of the game?  The ticket was purchased at the Parents store.   How easy would it be for them to tell a customer the winning ticket was only worth $20 and pocket the ticket.  Then wait to see if the customer realizes the mistake...and if they do just say sorry and hand the ticket back.  After 6 years who is going to remember no video would still exist so they can come up with a story about waiting to get everything in order and cash the ticket.  What some people won't do for a couple Million bucks........

 

 

BSOn the other Hand I'm probably full of it!!  LOL    Congrats to the winners.

Well said   petergrfn,

exacly what I was thinking.............

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Oct 17, 2012

A good reason to forbid family members or employees buying tickets from their own place.

This doesn't come close to passing the smell test.

I Agree! If they REALLY want tickets they can get them at a different store.

giotonia's avatargiotonia

This is why I have a problem with employees buying at the store they work at. I seen this too many times in NYC stores. $20 rolls come in the next day they are finish and not many customer buy. I had employee them me they scratch 10 or more and how terrible the roll was. In one store they was selling the losers I assumes since the tickets numbers were out of order and roll was ripped up like they had #001-003 then you #015 was by itself and so forth. Many games was like that. I believe they when through the whole row and left the buds. Called NY to complain many time and they don't care. I only play at vending machines and place I know the tickets are not being tampered with.

RedStang's avatarRedStang

That game was still around last year.  Three weeks ago i watched a lady tell the clerk what tickets she wanted and had him scratch/scan to see if they were winners. She was gone before i got to talk to her. Also notified some other peeps that they were throwing away second chance tics. The vending machines are a good start, but they need to do a better job protecting players, especially the older ones.

HiFi's avatarHiFi

nobody would wait 6 years to collect this kind of a win.  combined with the fact that they "bought" the ticket from their own parents' store pretty much says to me they were waiting til the last minute so nobody would figure out the truth.

sully16's avatarsully16

I think there's going to be more to this story.

janem's avatarjanem

Quote: Originally posted by HiFi on Oct 17, 2012

nobody would wait 6 years to collect this kind of a win.  combined with the fact that they "bought" the ticket from their own parents' store pretty much says to me they were waiting til the last minute so nobody would figure out the truth.

I agree.  I think it's very likely that they pulled a switch on the true winner but needed to wait to make sure the truth didn't come out. Looks like they are going to get away with it too. Any video tape is long since gone and I'm sure the real winner has forgotten redeeming a ticket six years ago and even if he/she did remember, there is no way to prove it now. I'm sure the Lottery realizes that the brothers are pulling a fast one but apparently after looking into their claim for months have found nothing to show that the claim is fradulent.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

I smell a rat.

I wish there was a "like" button because you took the words right out of my mouth.

JonnyBgood07's avatarJonnyBgood07

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

I smell a rat.

I Agree!

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

I agree w/ all who think there's something wrong w/ this,

if the lottery  has to pay this cause there's no video, they'll need to make changes.

for example, videos will have to be kept longer, or expiration would change to 1 year from when tix. were sold,

if they scan a ticket they know when that ticket was sold.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

I am going to say outright the lottery may have erred in paying the claim and that the Ashkars are more likely not the legitimate owners of the ticket, against my preffered tone which is: the lottery erred in paying the claim, and that the Ashakrs are not the legitimate owners of the ticket.

The time delay in presenting the ticket for claim, while legal, suggested absence of confidence in ownership, and clear fear of lottery and  public challenge to any mounted claim.

The Ashkars said:

" The reason for the delay, according to the lottery's news release: Ashkar was concerned that the winning ticket "could negatively influence his life if he did not plan properly before being publicly introduced." "

" Ashkar said he did not want the winning ticket to influence his engagement and then marriage, according to the news release."

The statement is weak and poor, and does not add up with the very aim and motive behind a lottery ticket purchaser, which is, to win the grand prize in the very game that they had purchased a ticket for. So, it is severely unlikely that the Ashkars did not know, understand, what they were doing, and its implications.

The article said:

"The younger brother also said that during that time, he decided to share his winnings with his brother, Nayel, to show his appreciation for all that Nayel had done for him during his life,"

The above claim of Ashkar's younger brother is not only untrue but extremnly weak, and is a carefully calculated ploy designed to influence the un-informed and the naive with a hypocritical claim of a bleeding heart of charity, to reward his older brother with $2.5m for what he has done for him in life, while the heavier and greater priority for his parents, the very people that channelled the beginnings of his existence on earth and supported his early weaknesses and helplessness, remain discarded and relegated aside, as they continue to slave away dangerously in a run-down store that was unlikely to have brought in $50,000 in net profits after all expense, at the end fo each year during the past 6 years, in a though neiborhood.

The names Nayel and Ashkar are Parsi, from Iran, and from all indications the family background of the store owners and the presumed winners are Iranian origins. 

The vast majority of party stores in tough US neighborhoods in the east coast and midwest are owned, run and operated by immigrants from the middle east and South Asia.

A significant population of immigrants to the USA carry, and gladly extend the benefits of their earnings in the  USA with family, and extended family, and communities of origins, wherever there are on the this planet.

Many lottery winners, regardless of national origins have often cited members of their families as the priority for the distribution of their newly found wealth. It is just highly un-likely that Nayel Ashkar would dump half his winnings into his older brother,  just like that, even after 6 years of mental exercises, and planning on how to write the script and tale, of how he came into possession of a scrtach-off ticket worth $5.0m that Syracuse  NYwill buy.

I beleive that New York Lottery players need more explanations from their lottery commision, board or authority about the lottery's payment of $5m 6years after the ticket was purchased, and based on such instruments as sworn affidavits, which are legal but are consistently used by lawyers to swaive the course of justice and to defeat the application and realization of justice, whereever there are needed.

The whole claim is a negation of the successes of the Iowa lottery with the attempted claim of a winning $14M or so Hot Lotto ticket, by a New York attorney across America in Des Moins.

If the Ashkars are not the legitimate owners of the ticket, then let Karma bring to bear upon them, far more appropriate penalties than the state could ever imagine or able to do, by law

If the Ashkars are the legitimate owners of the ticket, then let Karma allow them to enjoy the benefits of the ticket.

Whoever is the true owner of this tciket, let the payments made by the lottery come back to them, from who ever has the funds, now.

Ronnie316

Tickets are not scanned when they are sold and a lot of tickets come from vending machines. What the states could easily do is program the terminals to make a different and distinct sound anytime larger prize tickets are checked by the clerk. 

In a casino its imposable to win over a couple hundred bucks without everyone in sight knowing because of the sound. The terminals already make noise, but make no distinction between $5. and $5 million winners.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by HiFi on Oct 17, 2012

nobody would wait 6 years to collect this kind of a win.  combined with the fact that they "bought" the ticket from their own parents' store pretty much says to me they were waiting til the last minute so nobody would figure out the truth.

I agree.

And I think that the Ashkars, and the lottery should now be legitimate targets for public investigation, by both the FBI and the US Department of Justice.

Ronnie316

Surly the lottery tracks the location of such large tickets and knows where they were sold......

Store owners should be required to publicly post notice of the sale of all large winning tickets.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

I smell a rat.

I agree.

And the Ashkars, the New York Lottery should both be investigated by the US Department of Justice and the FBI for possible breach of public trust in making payments on an instrument that is marred and laced with all-around signes and signposts, that something serious is wrong with ticket ownership claims, history, and tendered oral affidavits.

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by Factorem on Oct 17, 2012

I agree.

And the Ashkars, the New York Lottery should both be investigated by the US Department of Justice and the FBI for possible breach of public trust in making payments on an instrument that is marred and laced with all-around signes and signposts, that something serious is wrong with ticket ownership claims, history, and tendered oral affidavits.

Something is very very strange here.  No reasonable/normal person waits 6 years. I wonder if perhaps an elderly relative might have won and they waited for him/her to die...the only scenario I can come up with...lol

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by Artist77 on Oct 17, 2012

Something is very very strange here.  No reasonable/normal person waits 6 years. I wonder if perhaps an elderly relative might have won and they waited for him/her to die...the only scenario I can come up with...lol

Or someone brought in a ticket and said "Will you check this please" and the clerk replied, "You won $20."

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Oct 17, 2012

I think there's going to be more to this story.

I agree.

Everything about this story, or more precisely about the payment made by Syracuse, calls for more serious defenses than the complicit bureua has allowed to be shared with a thinking worl,  as the non-frivolous explanation for possibly allowing, and authorizing a fraud.

The trend is now set, for now. Any store clerk can keep a winning ticket and just copy the Ashkars story line plot, and apply it to themselves two week before expiration.

Ronnie316

If they did steal the ticket I have to wonder if they felt sorry for the person every time they came back into the store or they laughed at him for being so stupid that he didn't know a winning ticket when he saw one?

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

Or someone brought in a ticket and said "Will you check this please" and the clerk replied, "You won $20."

But wait 6 years??? The wait time alone guarantees a lot of people will be raising questions. So maybe the winner was elderly/sick and died.  Just call me Nancy Drew.  Book One.."The Mystery of the  Six Year Old Lottery Ticket." I just need to pack my suitcase with 3 crisp linen dresses, call my football player boyfriend Ned and hop in my convertible and drive to the "winning" store to investigate.

Ronnie316

I would guess that its a regular customer who would suspect them and make a claim.

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

I would guess that its a regular customer who would suspect them and make a claim.

Right..they waited for the person to die. Bet he/she was elderly.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by janem on Oct 17, 2012

I agree.  I think it's very likely that they pulled a switch on the true winner but needed to wait to make sure the truth didn't come out. Looks like they are going to get away with it too. Any video tape is long since gone and I'm sure the real winner has forgotten redeeming a ticket six years ago and even if he/she did remember, there is no way to prove it now. I'm sure the Lottery realizes that the brothers are pulling a fast one but apparently after looking into their claim for months have found nothing to show that the claim is fradulent.

I agree with all that you have said and I join your comments:

The New York Lottery board's credibility as a genuine custodian of the public trust should be suspended, until Syracuse, NY tells the world the true story of why it paid $5m money to the Ashkars with a decrepitude claim and a defective law.

I feel that an independent body in NY should organize, conduct research, collect petittions and sworn affidavits and challenge the lottery, with the same types of intruments that they had relied upon to pay $5m to a questionable holder.

The credibity and reliability of the Ashkars' claim is missing, bad faid abounds, and complicity is the  replacementt name for the NY lottery.

Ronnie316

Yeah, or at least wait til they stop coming into the store. Thats one customer they were happy to lose. lol.

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by Factorem on Oct 17, 2012

I agree with all that you have said and I join your comments:

The New York Lottery board's credibility as a genuine custodian of the public trust should be suspended, until Syracuse, NY tells the world the true story of why it paid $5m money to the Ashkars with a decrepitude claim and a defective law.

I feel that an independent body in NY should organize, conduct research, collect petittions and sworn affidavits and challenge the lottery, with the same types of intruments that they had relied upon to pay $5m to a questionable holder.

The credibity and reliability of the Ashkars' claim is missing, bad faid abounds, and complicity is the  replacementt name for the NY lottery.

The lottery investigated, found no wrong doing and awarded the prize. Case closed my friend.....

petergrfn

Quote: Originally posted by Artist77 on Oct 17, 2012

But wait 6 years??? The wait time alone guarantees a lot of people will be raising questions. So maybe the winner was elderly/sick and died.  Just call me Nancy Drew.  Book One.."The Mystery of the  Six Year Old Lottery Ticket." I just need to pack my suitcase with 3 crisp linen dresses, call my football player boyfriend Ned and hop in my convertible and drive to the "winning" store to investigate.

This would make a good short story for a book!  I think the more likely answer is they brothers may have done some investigating into the Law and found the Statute of Limitiations for Theft in NY is probably 5-6 years.  So even if somehow there was any evidence of their wrongdoing no charges can be brought against them......

mcginnin56

May they live happily ever after, without the interference of envious conspiracy theorists.  Cussing Face

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by petergrfn on Oct 17, 2012

This would make a good short story for a book!  I think the more likely answer is they brothers may have done some investigating into the Law and found the Statute of Limitiations for Theft in NY is probably 5-6 years.  So even if somehow there was any evidence of their wrongdoing no charges can be brought against them......

It could be argued that the theft didn't take place til they cashed the ticket........

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by mcginnin56 on Oct 17, 2012

May they live happily ever after, without the interference of envious conspiracy theorists.  Cussing Face

May they suffer the torture of a guilty conscience for an extended period of time  What?

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

The lottery investigated, found no wrong doing and awarded the prize. Case closed my friend.....

Decisions can be reversed if new info comes to light.

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by petergrfn on Oct 17, 2012

This would make a good short story for a book!  I think the more likely answer is they brothers may have done some investigating into the Law and found the Statute of Limitiations for Theft in NY is probably 5-6 years.  So even if somehow there was any evidence of their wrongdoing no charges can be brought against them......

Ok Peter, you and Brian can write the book.

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by Artist77 on Oct 17, 2012

Decisions can be reversed if new info comes to light.

That's true but overturning the states decision is like overturning the refs decision in a football game. 

The evedence will need to be "conclusive"

haymaker's avatarhaymaker

Quote: Originally posted by Artist77 on Oct 17, 2012

But wait 6 years??? The wait time alone guarantees a lot of people will be raising questions. So maybe the winner was elderly/sick and died.  Just call me Nancy Drew.  Book One.."The Mystery of the  Six Year Old Lottery Ticket." I just need to pack my suitcase with 3 crisp linen dresses, call my football player boyfriend Ned and hop in my convertible and drive to the "winning" store to investigate.

The Hardy boys will offer their assistance, as long as their buddy Chet is willing to help. LOL

Did Chet play center on the same team as Ned ?

my sisters went through all the books and could'nt dig that out.

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by haymaker on Oct 17, 2012

The Hardy boys will offer their assistance, as long as their buddy Chet is willing to help. LOL

Did Chet play center on the same team as Ned ?

my sisters went through all the books and could'nt dig that out.

ok lol  The more the merrier.   I don't remember a Chet in Nancy Drew.  Wasn't Chet one of the Hardy boys friends?  I know Nancy's friend "George" (A girl) had a boyfriend but I don't think it was Chet. I don't  think Chet was on the same team as Ned. But maybe there was some connection on both TV series in the late 1970's?

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 17, 2012

The lottery investigated, found no wrong doing and awarded the prize. Case closed my friend.....

It is indeed a pity and highly regrettable, that you grant with much ease, exemption to a government agency, which has acted in a way that reflects defectiveness across a broad spectrum of expected expertise, in the exercise of duty in this matter.

The mood in this posts regarding this matter verifies that the majority opinion of the posters is that, there is defectiveness in the actions of the lottery in the handling of the matter and is vastly un-surportive of your position.

A tree cannot make a forest, and while a crowd can cook for one man/woman, one man/woman cannot cook for a crowd. Along these lines of thought, there is accuracy in my further representation that the concerted opinions and comments of the posters in this forum, goes against your rendition.

The lottery like many state agencies are largely un-regulated bodies, and this quirk/loophole in state laws often allows them to do to its people, harmful and oppressive acts, and get away with it, until challenged, not administratively, but through the courts. On the other hand, a public for-profit corporation providing exactly the same comparable service to a state resident may not get away with it, if challenged at the administrative level by a body/commission/bureau which has fielded a complaint from a consumer.

It is exactly because of the lenient attitude that persons like you, take towards government agencies that, these agencies feel immensely empowered by the silence of your likes, and interpret these silences as endorsements, that their ineptitudeness were valid public votes of confidence on actually totally non-existing  excellent performances.

Perhaps, your comments were designed to be provocative for the sake of generating and advancing an argumentative dubious agenda

I  believe that New York lottery players are not going to sleep on this and are going to go out into the streets, with pads, and gather affidavits and signatures and take the lottery directly to Court for actions that it took in making the payments, that could be potentially barred by the existence of fraud, which is proposed by the unconventional events regarding this matter.

The Ashkars could have notified the lottery of the win 6 years ago, but they did not, if indeed they were the legitimate winners, just like the Michigan $337m Power-ball winner did, before going to Lansing to claim his prize.

The Ashkars claim is deply supicious. Lets just say that they really do not now how to handle the win, then they could have at least claimed it 6 yeras ago, banked it and then waited till 2012 to make a decising on the 50/50 spliit now being suggested by the winner

The lottery does not have the last word, or have the power to render the last word on investigation, and rendering an opinion that there is no wrong doing, and then closing the case. That power is enshrined by the law of this land to the Courts. they and they only can determine if the lottery's investigation was shoddy or not.

I recommend that you pay a visit to your local library and check out a few books that will re-educate you on what you should already know, about how your governments and courts work, and then return to the post,  with style and advanced contents that continues the class-act that the lottery posters are all about.

To a significant degree, the decisions of Syracuse to pay this money to the Ashkars is a broad-daylight betrayal of lottery players across America, and utter disrespect of their intelligence.


Actions speaks louder than words and the comments of the other Posters on this post says it all.

VenomV12

Oh come on, they stole this ticket from a customer, that is clear as day. They waited this long because they are scared of prosecution, but they had no choice but to come forward as the deadline was approaching. This is the most obvious criminal act I have ever seen in my life. Who on God's earth would wait that long to cash a ticket of that amount? No one. 

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Oct 17, 2012

Oh come on, they stole this ticket from a customer, that is clear as day. They waited this long because they are scared of prosecution, but they had no choice but to come forward as the deadline was approaching. This is the most obvious criminal act I have ever seen in my life. Who on God's earth would wait that long to cash a ticket of that amount? No one. 

You know, the believability of these two brothers is really dead on arrival.

Their parents ran a run-dawn store in a ghetto, referred to politely, in the news report as a though neighborhood, and there was $5 million dollars to buy out their emancipation and salvation from the ghetto and still the brothers did nothing, and when they finally decided to do something, the priority was on splitting the money between the two brothers for supposedly, what the older one did for the younger one in life, a comments for the birds, naive. arrested, restricted and on-hold intelligences.

If I lived in New York, I will begin immediately to develop an action plan that aims to challenge the Lottery to responsibility, and compel the Ashkars to confess, through administrative and legal routes.

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.Maybe,just maybe these brothers are telling the truth and ARE entitled to the money.Nowhere in this story did it say that the brothers were rocket scientists.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by Cletu$2 on Oct 17, 2012

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.Maybe,just maybe these brothers are telling the truth and ARE entitled to the money.Nowhere in this story did it say that the brothers were rocket scientists.

The saying is traditional and an accepted culture on earth.

 

Try and read the article, then read the comments and even long-time traditional enemies on this posts find themselves on common ground that the NY Lottery have failed players in the handling and proceesing of this 6 year old lottery prize by 2 sons of  a store owner who sold the winning ticket.

If the brothers had the truth, they would have had no reasons to have proudly claimed this money 6 years ago, bank it or whatever and then wait till 2012 when they think, that they now know what to do with it to speak up.

Their parents squalored in a run-down store in a dangerous ghetto for 6 years while $5m clear money sat around and went un-collected, and could have been used to free them, from the daily risks they faced to guns and robberies.

There is no periodic table equivalent that sets the rocket scientist at the high end of smarts and sets the brothers at the bottom end

The brothers have in effect concocted a tale and thrown it at people. A tale is a lie, and a lie is a statement issued by the liar that affirms that the listener lacks the intelligence to know any better.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by petergrfn on Oct 17, 2012

This would make a good short story for a book!  I think the more likely answer is they brothers may have done some investigating into the Law and found the Statute of Limitiations for Theft in NY is probably 5-6 years.  So even if somehow there was any evidence of their wrongdoing no charges can be brought against them......

The statute of limitation for theft in NY is 5 years, but that's more or less irrelevant. If the ticket is stolen they're both guilty of possession of stolen property, which in this case is a felony that could get them up to 25 years, the same as for the original theft. Then there's the fraud they just committed by claiming the prize as their own.  Assuming the parents (or anyone else) know they didn't really buy the ticket they'd have the honor of being co-conspirators for the related conspiracy charges.

Of course the problem is in proving the ticket was stolen. I'd guess that NY considered that and went through a somewhat more thorough investigation than usual, but when somebody presents a legitimate ticket there's just so much they can do.

Masone

So how much interest did they miss out on by waiting? Well at least you can get houses for way cheaper now than you could have gotten them in 2006.

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by Factorem on Oct 17, 2012

It is indeed a pity and highly regrettable, that you grant with much ease, exemption to a government agency, which has acted in a way that reflects defectiveness across a broad spectrum of expected expertise, in the exercise of duty in this matter.

The mood in this posts regarding this matter verifies that the majority opinion of the posters is that, there is defectiveness in the actions of the lottery in the handling of the matter and is vastly un-surportive of your position.

A tree cannot make a forest, and while a crowd can cook for one man/woman, one man/woman cannot cook for a crowd. Along these lines of thought, there is accuracy in my further representation that the concerted opinions and comments of the posters in this forum, goes against your rendition.

The lottery like many state agencies are largely un-regulated bodies, and this quirk/loophole in state laws often allows them to do to its people, harmful and oppressive acts, and get away with it, until challenged, not administratively, but through the courts. On the other hand, a public for-profit corporation providing exactly the same comparable service to a state resident may not get away with it, if challenged at the administrative level by a body/commission/bureau which has fielded a complaint from a consumer.

It is exactly because of the lenient attitude that persons like you, take towards government agencies that, these agencies feel immensely empowered by the silence of your likes, and interpret these silences as endorsements, that their ineptitudeness were valid public votes of confidence on actually totally non-existing  excellent performances.

Perhaps, your comments were designed to be provocative for the sake of generating and advancing an argumentative dubious agenda

I  believe that New York lottery players are not going to sleep on this and are going to go out into the streets, with pads, and gather affidavits and signatures and take the lottery directly to Court for actions that it took in making the payments, that could be potentially barred by the existence of fraud, which is proposed by the unconventional events regarding this matter.

The Ashkars could have notified the lottery of the win 6 years ago, but they did not, if indeed they were the legitimate winners, just like the Michigan $337m Power-ball winner did, before going to Lansing to claim his prize.

The Ashkars claim is deply supicious. Lets just say that they really do not now how to handle the win, then they could have at least claimed it 6 yeras ago, banked it and then waited till 2012 to make a decising on the 50/50 spliit now being suggested by the winner

The lottery does not have the last word, or have the power to render the last word on investigation, and rendering an opinion that there is no wrong doing, and then closing the case. That power is enshrined by the law of this land to the Courts. they and they only can determine if the lottery's investigation was shoddy or not.

I recommend that you pay a visit to your local library and check out a few books that will re-educate you on what you should already know, about how your governments and courts work, and then return to the post,  with style and advanced contents that continues the class-act that the lottery posters are all about.

To a significant degree, the decisions of Syracuse to pay this money to the Ashkars is a broad-daylight betrayal of lottery players across America, and utter disrespect of their intelligence.


Actions speaks louder than words and the comments of the other Posters on this post says it all.

Sour Grapes.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

What makes me cast doubts in their story was the fact that the country just went through, or is going through one of the worst recession, depending on who you ask, and these two brothers just hanged on to the winning ticket? Unhappy I don't trust their story

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

Quote: Originally posted by Factorem on Oct 18, 2012

The saying is traditional and an accepted culture on earth.

 

Try and read the article, then read the comments and even long-time traditional enemies on this posts find themselves on common ground that the NY Lottery have failed players in the handling and proceesing of this 6 year old lottery prize by 2 sons of  a store owner who sold the winning ticket.

If the brothers had the truth, they would have had no reasons to have proudly claimed this money 6 years ago, bank it or whatever and then wait till 2012 when they think, that they now know what to do with it to speak up.

Their parents squalored in a run-down store in a dangerous ghetto for 6 years while $5m clear money sat around and went un-collected, and could have been used to free them, from the daily risks they faced to guns and robberies.

There is no periodic table equivalent that sets the rocket scientist at the high end of smarts and sets the brothers at the bottom end

The brothers have in effect concocted a tale and thrown it at people. A tale is a lie, and a lie is a statement issued by the liar that affirms that the listener lacks the intelligence to know any better.

Believe what you want,but the N.Y. Lottery apparently believed them.After the brothers turned the ticket over to lottery for verification and the lottery performed all of their tests on the ticket it apparently passed the tests,the brothers were awarded the prize.'Nuff said!

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by Factorem on Oct 17, 2012

You know, the believability of these two brothers is really dead on arrival.

Their parents ran a run-dawn store in a ghetto, referred to politely, in the news report as a though neighborhood, and there was $5 million dollars to buy out their emancipation and salvation from the ghetto and still the brothers did nothing, and when they finally decided to do something, the priority was on splitting the money between the two brothers for supposedly, what the older one did for the younger one in life, a comments for the birds, naive. arrested, restricted and on-hold intelligences.

If I lived in New York, I will begin immediately to develop an action plan that aims to challenge the Lottery to responsibility, and compel the Ashkars to confess, through administrative and legal routes.

"If I lived in New York, I will begin immediately to develop an action plan that aims to challenge the Lottery to responsibility, and compel the Ashkars to confess, through administrative and legal routes."

Ok, talk is super cheap. Especially behind a keyboard. So, you are saying that you are so indignant about this, that you would spend money and time, hire attorneys, and force the New York Lottery to make these guys confess to something that you really don't know, and you really don't know, because you only know what you and everyone else has read in an article. Sure.

The New York Lottery spent several months investigating this ticket, and these people. Get over it. You are just jealous because you want to win.

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on Oct 18, 2012

"If I lived in New York, I will begin immediately to develop an action plan that aims to challenge the Lottery to responsibility, and compel the Ashkars to confess, through administrative and legal routes."

Ok, talk is super cheap. Especially behind a keyboard. So, you are saying that you are so indignant about this, that you would spend money and time, hire attorneys, and force the New York Lottery to make these guys confess to something that you really don't know, and you really don't know, because you only know what you and everyone else has read in an article. Sure.

The New York Lottery spent several months investigating this ticket, and these people. Get over it. You are just jealous because you want to win.

Green laugh

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by Cletu$2 on Oct 18, 2012

Believe what you want,but the N.Y. Lottery apparently believed them.After the brothers turned the ticket over to lottery for verification and the lottery performed all of their tests on the ticket it apparently passed the tests,the brothers were awarded the prize.'Nuff said!

I Agree!

magic 007

 " Ticket no good, i throw away for you! "

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

Quote: Originally posted by magic 007 on Oct 18, 2012

 " Ticket no good, i throw away for you! "

Thats the great thing about America...you are still entitled to your opinion,for now.

tib52

This is something smelly. This should teach you do not asked the store clerk to check your ticket. Let me tell you how this more likely went down. Someone bought the ticket. Purchaser walked out not knowing s/he had just been screwed out of $5 million. Store owner pockets winning ticket and saves it for later to come forward. This happen all the time. They knew the dead line, and long after all video evidence was destroyed the store owner/clerk come forward with the winning ticket. They should not have paid the ticket because there was a chance of wrong doing.

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by tib52 on Oct 18, 2012

This is something smelly. This should teach you do not asked the store clerk to check your ticket. Let me tell you how this more likely went down. Someone bought the ticket. Purchaser walked out not knowing s/he had just been screwed out of $5 million. Store owner pockets winning ticket and saves it for later to come forward. This happen all the time. They knew the dead line, and long after all video evidence was destroyed the store owner/clerk come forward with the winning ticket. They should not have paid the ticket because there was a chance of wrong doing.

Welcome to LP tib52,

Im sure the store clerk feels that anyone who is too stupid to realize they won $5 million dollars doest deserve the winnings and therefore did a good deed by keeping the ticket......

Ronnie316

Quote: Originally posted by magic 007 on Oct 18, 2012

 " Ticket no good, i throw away for you! "

LOL. Very well said magic 007No Pity!

giotonia's avatargiotonia

Quote: Originally posted by magic 007 on Oct 18, 2012

 " Ticket no good, i throw away for you! "

Lmao, this is why I always take my losers home with me, I had clerks trying to keep my tickets before.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by maringoman on Oct 18, 2012

What makes me cast doubts in their story was the fact that the country just went through, or is going through one of the worst recession, depending on who you ask, and these two brothers just hanged on to the winning ticket? Unhappy I don't trust their story

Good observation and Well Said.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on Oct 18, 2012

"If I lived in New York, I will begin immediately to develop an action plan that aims to challenge the Lottery to responsibility, and compel the Ashkars to confess, through administrative and legal routes."

Ok, talk is super cheap. Especially behind a keyboard. So, you are saying that you are so indignant about this, that you would spend money and time, hire attorneys, and force the New York Lottery to make these guys confess to something that you really don't know, and you really don't know, because you only know what you and everyone else has read in an article. Sure.

The New York Lottery spent several months investigating this ticket, and these people. Get over it. You are just jealous because you want to win.

I did not give you the Plan, and what I wrote, in no way, shape or manner whatsoever, supports everything that you wrote.

I shall therefore allow the uncontested restriction and continuity of your state, just as it is.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by magic 007 on Oct 18, 2012

 " Ticket no good, i throw away for you! "

Your language is racist and constructive criticism of another human being, that is based on their national origin, and English as a second language to them.

It is against the law here in the USA, no matter how tempted you are, to express what you have written.

Factorem's avatarFactorem

Quote: Originally posted by Ronnie316 on Oct 18, 2012

LOL. Very well said magic 007No Pity!

Both you, Ronnie316 and magic 007  have shared in a racist act, to demean another human being on the basis of their national origin, and English as a second language to them.

Your espoused private values is against the true spirit of the universality of this forum, and NOT against bigotry.

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