![New York Lottery](/images/newsicons/newsicon_nylottery.jpg)
They waited until shortly before the $5 million winning ticket in a scratch-off lottery game would have been worthless. Then, when two brothers from the Syracuse area went to claim the prize, they made an unusual offer: They told state lottery officials that they would be happy to take home less than the full amount if they could avoid a news conference.
(See NY brothers claim $5M win from '06 lottery ticket, Lottery Post, Oct. 17, 2012.)
The officials made them wait some more, saying a security check had to be completed before the big payday.
But "security check" turned out to be another name for an investigation that ultimately led to the brothers' arrest on Tuesday on larceny and other charges. The authorities said the two brothers had tricked the actual winner, a customer at their parents' convenience store.
The brothers — Andy Ashkar, 34, and Nayel Ashkar, 36 — were charged with attempted grand larceny and conspiracy. The Onondaga County district attorney, William J. Fitzpatrick, said in a statement that Andy Ashkar was also charged with criminal possession of stolen property, the ticket in the "$500 Million Extravaganza" game, sold in October 2006.
Andy Ashkar told the buyer at the time that it was only a $5,000 winner and, after pocketing $1,000 as a "fee," gave the man $4,000, according to the statement from Mr. Fitzpatrick.
Mr. Fitzpatrick said in the statement that when the Ashkars went to the lottery's headquarters in Schenectady in March of this year, they were told they would have to wait for the "security check."
The next milestone mentioned in Mr. Fitzpatrick's statement was an article last month in The Post-Standard of Syracuse about the Ashkars and the winning ticket — a story Mr. Fitzpatrick said "was actually put out by the lottery security division in an effort to have the real winner come forward." Other news outlets including The Associated Press also carried the report, based on a news release from the lottery's communications office.
John Lammers, the enterprise editor of The Post-Standard, said the newspaper assigned two reporters to the story because the editors wondered why the lottery had disclosed so much in a news release. Usually, he said, the lottery waits to announce a winner's identity at a news conference.
"Nobody put a fast one over on us," he said. "We were suspicious of this from the get-go. Something was going on.
"We put it on the front page because of all the red flags, and our readers got it immediately."
The lottery's news release said Andy Ashkar had bought the ticket but had waited to redeem it "out of concern that the winning ticket could negatively influence his life if he did not plan properly before being publicly introduced."
"Most notably," the news release said, "Ashkar said he did not want the winning ticket to influence his engagement and subsequent marriage." The release also said that Andy Ashkar wanted to share the money with his brother "to show his appreciation for all that Nayel had done for him during his life."
Carolyn Hapeman, a spokeswoman for the lottery, said at the time that it was "unusual" for the lottery "to send out a prerelease about an upcoming winner event." The news release said the lottery "requires" players who win $1 million or more to attend a news conference.
"We've been getting a lot of calls about this particular ticket and these individuals," she said on Oct. 17, "and rather than anybody question 'Is it true? Is it true?' we sent out what we know thus far." On Tuesday, she referred questions about the case to Mr. Fitzpatrick's office.
His statement said the false release had served its purpose; the real winner had come forward "and will hopefully be awarded his actual winnings pending the conclusion of the case against the Ashkar brothers."
There was no answer at the Ashkar family's store or at their homes.
As for the real winner, the authorities did not release his name.
Just unbelievable! their entire story was skeptical from the start.
All's well that ends well.![Lover Lover](/emoticons/lover.gif)
Don't mess with New York!!!!! lol
Just finished watching Good Morning America, the man who won said he
was confused by all of the zero's and always felt he was cheated somehow.
You see how GREEDY they were? Said they would give him $5,000 to avoid taxes
then charged a $1,000 "fee" and gave him $4,000j!!!! $1,000 "fee" for what!!!!
whoo greed is UGLY!!!!
This is the saddest thing about cheating, if you are bad and your intentions are bad, you will end up in jail. These two brothers will just pay what they did...stealing money is still a bad idea.
Yeah he didn't want to ruin his engagement and subsequent marriage to his lovely bride. JAIL would do that to a romance!
I wonder if the Ashkars are any relation to the Patel clan?
Ronnie316 was the first one in LP to say, "I smell a rat" and "sounds fishy to me". Congrats NY Lottery for catching another fraudulent claim and returning the winnings to the rightful lucky lottery player. I think that winner would be due interest since they should be able to determine the date he/she received the bogus $4,000 payout from the brothers.
li hate scratchoffs...for me, they have been nothing but worthless pieces of hard card paper. Got my eye on that $5,000 per Week For Life but I feel better about taking the astronomical odds playing the online games since I don't have to be in the right store at the right time to purchase the right scratch-off game...just let my 6 numbers match and I AM RICH B-YATCH!
If it doesn't makke sense, It's not true.
Ronnie316 was right on the money!![Hurray! Hurray!](/emoticons/hurray.gif)
Next time I suspect rats are infesting my home, I will be calling him first.![Beaver Beaver](/emoticons/beav.gif)
Good shout out to Ronnie316!!!!
The brothers said they'd be willing to take less money to avoid a news conference!
Seriously? Who does that?
As many members here on L.P. worried about remaining anonymous, would you take LESS MONEY
just so your name would not get out there? I don't think so!!!! I'd ALL my money and forget about
my name in the press!! Deal with it!!
Reading this pissed me off. Poor guy, but at least now he can have some peace of mind. I hope jail goes terribly for them.
Like i said back then " Ticket no good, i throw away for you " and i was castigated by factorem for being a "racist" ok Mr Factorem , where are you now, show your face. I rest my case......
Good point magic 007, we have all had to deal with money grubbing dishonest shopkeepers at some time.
Put them away for a long time sorry SOB.........Glad the real winner will receive his winnings.
Perhaps I should open shop as "Ronnie PI" and your rats will be my first customers mcginnin56,![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
As a warning to any other Gas Station Clerks who decide to rip off customers.....If I was the true winner of the $5 Million I might "Donate" a few hundred bucks to a couple of inmates canteen accounts anonymously and make sure the brothers get the "Extra" Treatment in Prison! LOL
On the other hand they will probably lose their store and spend many years in prison so they will be far worse off than if they had just thrown the ticket away.
Thanks Nikkicute.
I think your right....
if they had just walked in and picked up the check no one would have been the wiser.....
It was the parents store, so likely no one will lose anything....
I would be willing to bet those boys don't have to do ANY time in jail for their offences....
I remember the original story saying there was no wrong doing and the winnings were paid....![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
On a positive note...... at least the investigators had some work to do for a few months......![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
Good point, and what a great service to the community getting rid of all those "losing" tickets... lol.
On the other hand,they may run into a judge who is tough on crime and end up in prison for a whole lot of years.At least thats what I hope happens!
Andy faces 25 and his brother faces 15. I have a feeling the lotto will try to make an example of them if the law allows. Hard to believe he's a manager at a Toyota dealership.
I hope they like getting booty raped .
It doesn't matter if the rightful winner gets the money. The Brothers still committed the crimes! They made a scheme to defraud the lottery winner. They then turned in the ticket to the lottery commission. That makes it Criminal Possesion. Even if this is their first offense they CAN NOT prove that the ticket was worth LESS than $1 Million that makes it First Degree Grand Larceny! That's Mandatory Min. sentencing territory. They will do a few years IF they are lucky and make a plea. Any Lawyer worth his salt's first word to these two should be you absolutely want to AVOID a Jury Trial.....
Time will tell. I'm sure the 3rd segment of this fiasco will be published on LP in short order.
That would be a rather stiff penalty.... don't you think??![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
As our country progresses we should become more sensitive of those accused of a crime........
The offence in question may not even be a criminal offence, and therefore NOT a crime AT ALL.
Sounds like your going soft, what happened to your erection for crime.![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh my goodness!
Criminals are human, and have rights.......![Yes Nod Yes Nod](/emoticons/yesnod.gif)
I think that's LottoBoners dept. You may want to check with him on that.....![Wink Wink](/emoticons/smiley2.gif)
How silly of me.....I must have missed that class in college.![Big Grin Big Grin](/emoticons/biggrin.gif)
remember this, the quikimart and the habib who works there is not your friend.
Ahhh yes, your catching on my friend. There are so many wonderful things you can learn in a class room that are not at all dependent or even relevant to what is happening in the real world.........
Its a kind of Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy role playing situation...... If you will....
In fact, quite the opposite I think........
We have no friends at any lottery store.
It is us against them.![Boxing Boxing](/emoticons/boxing_smiley.gif)
I understand now. Until the suspected criminals are prosecuted, they are our friends and countrymen.![Love Love](/emoticons/love.gif)
The should be allowed into our homes as guests of honor.![Patriot Patriot](/emoticons/patriot.gif)
akshars joining the patels hope they get their asses drilled in jail .
Obviously. The fact that the two brothers haven't been dragged into the town square and hung directly after finding out the stole the ticket shows they have their rights. But while the "Accussed" have their rights so does the victim. Their is FAR MORE evidence of these two brothers guilt than innocence at this point but they still have the right to trial by jury. I don't think being the avid lottery player I am I could be an impartial juror knowing what I know about clerks taking peoples tickets. Even if they are convicted though they will recieve a far more equitable sentence then they would in many 3rd world countries where stealing over $1 Million dollars from somone else could result in death or having your hands chopped off. Still they are innocent until proven guilty.
So I'm sure when they show up to court looking like choir boys and have their Mom telling the Judge that they were such Good Boys who give to orphans and such they could still be found Not Guilty. We Will See.....
I've got some leftover Vaseline I could spare, if it would make the drilling job go a little smoother.![Big Grin Santa Big Grin Santa](/emoticons/biggrinsanta.gif)
thats a sore subject with ronnie![Yes Nod Yes Nod](/emoticons/yesnod.gif)
Hope they get life
There are pills that will address that problem.
If the desired effects should last more than six hours however, please contact your doctor immediately. Or admit yourself into your hospital ER.![Thumbs Up Thumbs Up](/emoticons/thumbsup.gif)
Ha Ha, I and others called it from the beginning. I can't believe some of the imbeciles on here that actually thought that this was legitimate and that someone would wait 6 years to claim a $5 million ticket.
Stay in school please and get an education.
heres a tip, of you are confused by the number of zeros on your ticket; take it to the local lotto HQ. not your local min wage worker.
Perhaps the investigators being the government workers that they are, needed an extra 6 months of work?
Imagine 6 years of trying to come up with something to say at Lottery office. And when the day finally comes all you have to say is.... "You can keep some of the money if you don't tell anyone that I won this"......
What baffoons.........![Evil Evil](/emoticons/evil2.gif)
![Ponder Ponder](/emoticons/ponder.gif)
How can this be ... waiting 6 years to claim a lottery prize? I thought New York lottery prizes had to be claimed within ONE year of the game. Most states have 6 months time limit to claim a prize.(a few have one year limit) If you don't submit the winning ticket in that time frame ... you get NOTHING.
If they had a game plan for ripping someone off, why did thet say it was a $5000. winner and not just give them $500. Or even $50.????
This was explained in the original story.The game had so many losing tickets that it took the entire 6 years to sell all of the tickets.
The game went on and on because of the outstanding winning ticket........
and the 6 month deadline doest start til THE END OF THE GAME.............
No telling how much extra cash the state of NY raked in because of the missing ticket.....
Of course the state knew it had been sold but kept selling worthless tickets to the public.
Games end when the big WINNERS are all gone.... NOT the losers......
Some states sell ALL of the tickets,not just the winning tickets,to maximize profits,hence my answer.
That could be true but once all the published winners are gone most people will quit the game.
Guilty consciousness. They had to sell a lie that would be believable in their own minds and hopefully to their mark. They knew it was $5m so to them it was a far stretch to offer the customer a mere 500 or 50 dollars.
I agree with you that they didnt graduate from an Ivy League Scam Institution as Patel University so they didn't have a solid plan in place should that lucky day ever come and it did.
Perhaps one of the reasons they (the lottery) waited an extra 6 months to be more investigation is so that people in NY would forget how long the game went on with ONE outstanding big ticket........
Some of the LP members here have complained about playing that game based on ONE outstanding big winning ticket, so maybe some NY'ers here can tell us how long it went on that way??
Thats a good one... lol. lol. lol. "Lets tell a lie that WE would believe"..... lol. lol.
I agree.But they still sell the tickets because not everyone pays attention,Iowa once had a lottery ticket that sold all of the major prize tickets within a couple of months and took a bath on profits because they pulled the game.Now Iowa has a disclaimer on their scratch off tickets that allows them to continue selling them if the secnd & third place prizes are significant enough to draw the interest of the buying public.Thats why I don't buy scratchers in Iowa.I feel that its false advertisement to sell a ticket that promises a $50,000 prize when all the $50,000 prizes have already been won,
Is it possible the NY lottery had the same type of guilty consciousness, and felt compelled to pay off the boys and than later changed their minds and published stories about the incident??
This whole thing was fishy from the get-go, and many who post here thought something was wrong when the first news article appeared.
Dont you think The NYS Lottery thought something was very wrong too? Give them some credit! They werent born yesterday, they've seen all the scams, and they took the best steps they could to get to the real truth. Kudo's to them.
The Lottery has an obligation to protect the lottery playing public from scam artists, and they take that responsibility seriously. If they didn't, the lottery playing public would lose faith/confidence in them, and most likely reduce the amount of money they spend playing. That spells DISASTER for any state's lottery, and it's something no state can afford to let happen.
Just because we cant see what their doing to protect us, does not mean they're sitting idly by and doing nothing.
So, this indefinate game was a SCAM by the State of New York. Getting people to buy worthless tickets. And you say other states do this too. Most people would go to jail for lottery fraud. But the STATE is not a person. I will never buy a scratch off ticket.
Oh that's right, the state would NEVER take advantage of the public in ANY way, EVER.....![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
I didnt say that.
I'm just pointing out that The State of New York had better be careful with the lottery. They need the income very badly...
Im really not saying "it was" as I dont know, but I do think someone should investigate the investigators![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
Perhaps a DEPT. OF INVESTIGATON OF INVESTIGATION......![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
If there was at least one outstanding $5,00,000,000 ticket,it WAS NOT a scam.If ALL of the $5,000,000,000 tickets were already sold and they continued to sell tickets,THEN it would be a scam.
We now know that one was SOLD, just not CLAIMED.........
I stand corrected! Thank you for the information.
I really did not want to lose my faith in the state of New York because I really love to visit the place.
FWIW...
There's many reason not to buy scratch-off's. Some are more subtle than others.
A while back an LP member posted that he found out through the NY State Freedom of Informtion Act that when lottery retailers go out of business they must return both opened and un-opened packs of scratch-off's to the state. He learned the un-opened packs were sent back out to lottery retailers, but the opened packs were destroyed. Thus possibly destroying a top prize winning ticket.
The NYS Lottery obviously knew that was a possibility, but they wouldnt divulge it until forced to thru the NYSFOI act.
Like I said, the ticket had been SOLD...... just not cashed. So the unsuspecting public THOUGHT it was available to be won, when in reality the lottery knew it was either lost or stolen for the whole 6 years.
"Authorities knew about the true winner, who will be named after he gets his affairs
in order, from a Syracuse police officer who picked up the information about him on
the streets".
The street? lol That soooo New York!!!!
No wonder I hear the theme music from Law & Oder.
Lol!
I'm here wondering what PROOF did the actual winner present or the NYS lottery uncover during its investigation that validated the rightful claim. Tapes would be destroyed at the time the brothers made their claim and the real winner never endorsed the ticket. Beyond that it's a case of He Said/She Said.
Is there something I am missing here?
won't the parents store lose the lottery franchise ?
Well something in that man's story rings true, I'm sure they investigated it.
Maybe he has bank statements stating a deposit of $4,000 was made at the time he brought in the
winning ticket, who knows.
So far I have not heard of anyone else comming forward and calling him a liar saying it's their
ticket and not his. That was 6 years ago, I'm so glad he remembered!!
You're right, the unsuspecting public thought it was available to be won.
That said, I've read that The NYS Lottery claims they do not know when a top prize winning ticket is SOLD. Which I tend to believe, because someone could buy a top prize winner, but not immediately scratch it. Suppose they didnt scratch it right away, and put it in the glove compartment of their car and forgot about it. There's no telling how long it might remain in there.... and there'd be no way for The State of New York to know what happened to it.
The State could certainly suspect it was lost or stolen, but they cant know for a fact what actually happened to it. To my mind, the State should not be allowed to indefinitely keep the game going. I dont know if there is in fact a date that's established as to when the game would be cancelled or not, but if a sole top prize ticket goes unclaimed for a certain amount of time, then the game should be ended. The tough part would be determining how long that time period would be.
My state has a website that shows the prizes left on every scratch-off ticket that is for sale and it is updated daily so you know what to buy and what not to buy. Some of the retailers even print it out and leave it by the counter so people can see for themselves which is nice.
It should be mandatory though that every retailer has a system that has a screen that shows how much you won and you should also have to hand back the ticket and a slip stating how much it has won.
The machines here print out a receipt, but it always get thrown in the trash unless I ask for it.
The lottery knows what store had the winner and when. They also know how long it takes to use up that inventory. So perhaps a "lost ticket alert" could have been disseminated???
Are you saying that the lottery knew this before the winning ticket was sodl or after the winning ticket was turned in?
They have an inventory of every ticketed printed, whats on it and where it goes. I would think the invetory control is very strict.
Todd, would you be able to locate and load a copy of this winning scratch off ticket. It would be great for us LotteryPost members to peruse it and see if somewhere shows $5000, or something to that confusing effect.
Fellow LP members, isn't it interesting that several lottery winning ticket holding folks continue to think it's okay to not pay required "Federal and State Income Taxes," on winnings, and therefore 'trade' to accept lesser payouts from their local, fellow law breakers? Aren't both of these types of residents (not necessarily legal, bonafide citizens) guilty of major crimes? Shouldn't BOTH larcenous parties be prosecuted with a couple years of community service (why should we mainly financially struggling income tax payers pay $50K each prisoner, annually to provide them daily: room, entertainment, exercise, meals, snacks, and courses?), monies returned to the lottery headquarters, and re-distributed via multiple yearly "2nd Chance Drawings" from submitted losing tickets of same online or scratch-off game?
Do these scratch-off tickets get scanned upon sale or what?
Because if yes, then the Lottery Headquarters knows IMMEDIATELY by the sold ticket's scanned "bar code" that one of their winning tickets has been sold and at which lottery retailer (thus, in all fairness the lottery headquarters should announce and post end of the opportunity for first place prize wins and give notice that game tickets for lesser 2nd place prizes, etc. are only available for 30 more days (if still also applicable). This should be performed by the State's Lottery Headquarters as soon as all of their game's first place tickets have been "SOLD" (not "claimed," via the official Lottery Headquarters' Claim Form)!
You assume the people running lotteries do thing better than the aveage person in this country who think doing things half a** is good enough.
True.......
The only time the lottery KNOWS a winner is when it walks though the door and say, "Im a winner"
Or you could say that you hope they get "shawshanked"!
I think a lot of us knew this was a scam...although I thought they had killed the true winner. I wonder what they would have done if the true winner had said, "no thanks, I want to show the ticket to my spouse", and left with the scratch off ticket?
so if i decide to forge winning scratch tickets, i can sell them to the local patels for $5k, just pretend to be dumb?
Letting them pay you $4 or $5 grand for a fake ticket that's supposedly worth much more would be pretty amusing, since if they go to the police they have to admit that they were trying to steal far more from you than you stole from them. Of course they could always just kill you or break your legs instead.
They probably would have tried to pull the old switcheroo, and substitute their winning ticket for another similar losing ticket, hoping they
wouldn't notice until they left the store.
With that amount of greed they had, I can't imagine they would have just let the customer walk out with "their" $5 million ticket.
RJOh, no assuming has occurred. My question hasn't been answered by a person in the know yet. Perhaps it will be later today or tomorrow though ... I'll keep looking/lurking in.
I predict that you WONT get a photo of the winning ticket posted on LP.......
savagegoose, your $5K target fee might not interest any larcenous lottery retailers or their employees. As, according to this article, the "going rate" was the far lesser $4K 6.7 years ago. The rate may not have increased since then in this, ever continued, USA Greater Depression and high inflation time period.
Very well said, HaveABall.![Conehead Conehead](/emoticons/conehead.gif)
I am right here in full face!.
Your remark ramains a racist statement, as a person's knowledge of English does not imply criminal bahavior capabilities. The charges against these brothers is about theft, and are independent of their language skills.
In this case as it turns out, there was no offer to throw away a ticket, or a claim that it was altogether no good.
If you go back and read my posts back in October, you will be able to confirm that I wrote vociferiously against what these two brothers did, and serioudsly got on the case of Syracuse NY for complicity in paying out
Mcginnin56 wrote back to me in words "Sour grapes", while his tag-team partner in lottery post war mongering, ronnie316 told me to get over it, as the NY lottery has made its decision.
Well, you can read foryourself as it turned out, I was not alone in my position and today's story remains a vindication that the position and views that I had espoused and written about, in October on this matter was positively correct.
I saw a guy doing the scratchie thing today. Quite feverishly. I was there to place my 363 str8. He was sctratching all feverishly like a crack addict and then he took the scanner to the machine. I was on the machine and double checking my free plays, as I was cleaning my room today and found six of them. So I let the guy go in front of me. The funny thing about scratch offs is there is a bar code on the front and on the back, and I never know which one to scan.
So the guy is scanning the front of his scratchie and the machine wont read it. Before I can suggest to scan the other side he takes it to the clerk and asks "Can you check this for me"?
Temptation.
The real question is. Are convenience store really so convenient?
People buying milk and cigarettes are inconvenient for lottery players.
Not to mention QuickDraw.
I saw two separate players downing $100 in three separate consecutive draws. I was in at the cutoff for my Jackpot game, and there he was with 20 cards at the counter.
Now if there was a line of people buying milk, then I can predict a small chance of that player climbing over the counter to get to the terminal to get his bet in on time.
The atmosphere in a convenience store ( forgive me this word convienent is giving me trouble as for as spelling is concerned)
is frenetic at best when there are multiple lottery players in there.
Online internet playing is the MOST CONVIENENT solution. There should be choice. Business is about choice. I choose to not go into the vipers den. I prefer lottery from the safety of my bed.
And all scratchie players must be wrangled and flogged.
Thats why I use THIS............
This kind of stuff happens cause ppl. from other countries think americans are stupid.....did'nt work this time.
Some cultures teach lying and cheating as an acceptable means of gaining an advantage , which comes in real handy upon entering America where we are taught to tell the truth and trust people.......
I am so glad that the con has been called out and the thieves arrested. Most of us knew it was a con from the get-go.
I suspect the trial will be long and messy unless they don't have money for a good lawyer.
Good lawyers can convince jurors that up is really down![Bang Head Bang Head](/emoticons/banghead.gif)
Ronnie hit the nail on the head here. Americans are taught to trust people first (often over our own instincts) and it gets us in trouble sometimes.
I don't expect much of a trial. If their attorney is worth anything, she/he will plea for some lesser offense or term reduction since this is a losing case. And since a number (all perhaps?) of people on any potential jury (even if they don't play the lottery) have likely once have dreamed of winning a jackpot, if only for a second, and this realization that this crime could happen to them, will make this an easy conviction. Going to trial is too big a risk for these criminals.
Thanks Artist77, Ive learned the hard way more times than I can count yet still choose to trust. lol. lol.
Only as Mr. Reagan once said I choose to "Trust, but verify". lol. lol.
Pres. Reagan was so right. I miss him!
Anytime I cash a ticket I tell the clerk (up front) that I want the receipt from the terminal and I watch them closely to make sure they don't switch anything.......
Yes, me too.
Its a great and humble person who understand that government causes more problems than it solves.
Strictly out of respect, when I'm trying to make my parrot do popes in the morning. (into the toilet bowl) I always say com'on Jewel,
do one "For the Gipper!" He then proceeds to let loose with a whopper!!
Its like when I go to the store, and I am ready to place my bet and the clerk says "908"?
No! Just because I have been playing it for a month, does not mean I am playing it today.
Dont assume I am a lottery novice because I play the same number for week.
Scratchie player= stupid. I can understand that assumption.
LOL! no offense.
I will not call you stupid as long as you dont make a horrific mess with your latex scraps.![Roll Eyes Roll Eyes](/emoticons/rolleyes.gif)
Americans also are so afraid of seeming biased against another culture or race, that we don't question things we should. I remember a male grocery clerk (unnamed race) not giving me change back from a check I wrote one time. I walked out and got to my car and thought I don't remember him giving me my $30 plus dollars change (my lottery and spending money for the work week...lol). I hesitated at first to go back in and thought I must have dropped it (not like me to ever do something like that though) and I finally decided to go back in and nicely ask him to check. This guy went ballistic on me, called me a liar and said he had given me my money. Big Mistake and I thought I don't care if they think I am biased here. So I called the manager and asked her to pull his cash drawer. Result: he had cheated me and lied. I know a lot of women would not have gone back into the store and stood up for themselves.
The "Gipper" is alway good for a "Ripper"![Wink Wink](/emoticons/smiley2.gif)
If they had a game plan for ripping someone off, why did thet say it was a $5000. winner and not just give them $500. Or even $50.????
The reason Andy Ashkar gave the winner $5000 was maybe the winner told Andy that he thought that he had won $5000. The winner asked Andy to check it out. The Ashkars may still be using this person. The person who has claim the ticket may not be the winner. When the Ashkars found out that there would have to be a security check, they could have made a deal with someone they knew and gave them the information about paying out $5000. If the Ashkars get no jail time they may get probation and pay a large fine and could split this money with the person who has come forward as the original ticket holder. I am waiting to see if this person is also from the Mideast.
I think because they saw several zeros on the scanner. More zeros, more likely to be believed.
Now that would make for a movie script... lol. lol. lol.
Nice work reaching "TOP 100" my friend..... Excellent work mcginnin56!!![Party Party](/emoticons/party.gif)
Impressive!
Wow! What does that mean???
![Hyper Hyper](/emoticons/hyper.gif)
Im not sure..... but it looks like a "banner" day......![Banana Banana](/emoticons/banana.gif)
Can't wait for my "Top 50 Poster", then my "Top 25 Poster"![Big Grin Santa Big Grin Santa](/emoticons/biggrinsanta.gif)
its a party
I only dance with the top 100 members!!!![Dance Dance](/emoticons/dance.gif)
Lesson:
TRUST NO ONE TO CHECK YOUR TICKET
Lesson 2
Dont play the lottery !
"The two largest and most trusted printing operations are owned by Scientific Games and GTECH,
which also happen to be two of the most popular draw game vendors."
"The vendor knows which packs contain the high-tier winners. The lottery doesn't.
And vice versa for where the packs are shipped. As long as that balance is preserved, everything is kosher."
http://www.businessinsider.com/an-insider-shares-the-secrets-of-the-state-lottery-2012-3#comments
It will be the media's dream if this story could roll into this possibility.
The possibility and potential of this outcome, no doubt exists.
Whichever way it goes, these brothers are most likely going to get the steepest sentence possible under New York laws, and other future monitoring system may prevent them from realizing any benefits of this lottery prize from any decoy if one exists.
No, the person is not Mideastern, his name is Robert Miles, he's a black man.
Very nice smile, a $5,000,000 smile now lol![Big Smile Big Smile](/emoticons/smiley4.gif)
The lottery has documents that supports his story on how he purchased the winning ticket
but they did not elaborate on what those documents were. They also have
very credible witnesses.
Back in 2006 the guy was a regular customer at Grean Ale Market.
(doesn't it seem like clerks steal from their "regular" customers?)
Just goes to show, doesn't matter how long you have frequented a store
that clerk is NOT YOUR FRIEND!!!
A friend of the winner said he knew both brothers but they claim they have no
idea who he is. (took his money and forgot about him already?)
Another reason for the delay is that gambling is against their
religion. (I'm sure stealing is too!!!)
Sage stuff, Nikkicute, thanks!![Puke Puke](/emoticons/puke.gif)
Winning moment
Miles recalled the day in 2006 when he bought the ticket. It was his lunchtime ritual to buy as much as $200 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets, he said.
Miles scratched off the ticket and knew that he’d hit the jackpot with this $20 scratch-off — $5 million. In the store, he gave the ticket to Andy Ashkar, who scanned it and told him it was only worth $5,000, Miles said.
Then Ashkar said the store was charging $1,000 to cash it, and gave Miles $4,000, Miles said.
Miles started to protest, but Ashkar ran out the door with the ticket, said he was taking it to the lottery office downtown, then jumped in a car and sped away, Miles said.
“I was running down the street behind the car, yelling,” Miles said. “A lot of people seen me yelling at him.”
Miles admitted he was in no condition to fight that day. He’d gotten high on crack cocaine the night before, he said.
“I knew, I knew,” he said, referring to the $5 million value of the ticket. “But that day, it wasn’t a good day for me.”
He said he no longer uses drugs. He’s held a steady job as a maintenance man for years, raised two children and helped raise three stepdaughters.
He never complained to the police or lottery officials about the Ashkars because, he said, it would’ve been their word against his until someone came forward to claim the money.
Miles said he went back into the Green Ale Market once, shortly after the day he turned in the winning ticket.
“Y’all did me wrong,” he said he told the Ashkars’ parents, Wafa and Nayef Ashkar. “They said, “What you talking about?’”
He said he asked them why they never posted a sign saying he’d won $5,000 in the lottery, as they usually did with a winner that big.
“They just brushed me off,” Miles said.
Miles never played scratch-off lottery games after that day, he said. He never confronted the Ashkars again because he’s a spiritual man, he said.
“On the day that they did that to me, God spoke to me and said, ‘You know, I’m gonna double that,’” Miles said. “So I knew one day it was gonna come out and people were gonna believe what I was saying.”
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Well...congrats on getting off drugs!! Getting your life together, holding down a job and raising family.
Cocaine + Winning Lottery Ticket + Theif = a 6 year wait.
Glad to see the real winner get what's rightfully his and hopefully the POS brothers will get what's coming to them (jail time.)
Unfortunately, I get the feeling that the winner will be broke in a few short years as he seems like an easy mark for swindlers.
Sadly, your probably right.![Jester Laugh Jester Laugh](/emoticons/jesterlaugh.gif)
I could see him buying IPO's for exporting green cheese from the Moon.![Hyper Hyper](/emoticons/hyper.gif)
Thanks Nikkicute,that was the answer I was looking for.
Your welcome![Approve Approve](/emoticons/smiley14.gif)
Lottery seems fair in the scratch offs, just have to be in the right
store at the right time to win.
Don't you find it odd that after six years the lottery commision was able to find the guy that was the rightfull owner. How does that even work? Second how would john doe prove that he purchased the ticket? Third i wasn't aware that stores keep six years of security footage. Smells a little fishy on both ends.
If you smelled a rat like Ronnie316, you'd be on to something!![Beaver Beaver](/emoticons/beav.gif)
But since you only smell a fish, your at a dead end.![Dead Dead](/emoticons/smiley11.gif)
Wow, you missed the entire story! Start with page 1.
The lottery released the story of the brothers collecting the win after the 6 years in the hopes
the real winner would come forward. They have not stated how exactly they know his story is true
but they have documents and witnesses to prove his story, no mention of security footage.
Just look up the story and you'll see the guy knew they somehow ripped him off and
it's been eating away at him for years.
Yeah. I raised these very same points 5 pages back.
Likely he was in the store with someone who recalled the incident.
He may have still been a regular and worked with the lottery to entrap those scully wags.
And as someone suggested in response to my original post, he was probably able to provide banking documents when he received the 4k from the Bozo Twins.
Sorry i didn't read the comments or the entire story.
You didn't miss much, just another store clerk ripping off another dumb lottery player.......
So many dumb lottery players.....so few clerks.![Big Grin Big Grin](/emoticons/biggrin.gif)
This time ... Drugs = Delayed mental and physical reactions, Delayed lottery jackpot receival, Loss of Hundreds of Thousands of dollars investment interest.
How did this ending lottery partial-jackpot collector/"spiritual man" get $200 regularly for scratch-offs, was it the same place he got thousands of dollars to obtain cocaine and possibly other drugs?
Maybe none of this bizarre stuff matters. Is low cost big money (net $2M+) weird or what?![Pumpkin Pumpkin](/emoticons/pumpkin.gif)
Guess it's what makes this world go round.
Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for what happens.![Crazy Crazy](/emoticons/crazy.gif)
You're probably right, mcginnin56.
It's outcomes like these which gives we LP members a lingering hope that we, too, will win a big net MMs lottery jackpot, since past winners have stretched the complete spectrum of human highest integrity into devoid of integrity. Fascinating!
Right..... if we wont stand up for low life degenerate drug addicts, alcoholics, felons, sex offenders, all of the other baser elements in our society... Who will.....![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
And only yesterday, you were taking the side of these poor misjudged brothers, and other similar "innocent until proven guilty" elements.![Jester Laugh Jester Laugh](/emoticons/jesterlaugh.gif)
I dont think the state should have ever re-opened the case. If the lottery ticket is truly a "barer instrument" it belonged to the boys who cashed it in.........
Anyone who is dumb enough to hand over a $5 million ticket for $4000. deserves to be a 2 time loser.
He was not the "real winner". Once he handed over the ticket he became the "real loser"
But it's not quite like just finding a $5 bill on the ground in the middle of nowhere is it?
In a case like that, I'm sure everyone would agree it's "finders keepers".
But to put that same valuation on a $5 million scratch ticket, should certainly require a bit more of an investigation.
I say they should have walking in and cashed the ticket in minute they received it and the state should have stayed out of it, except of course for giving them their money......
Had that been the case, they most likely would have gotten away with it.
Their mistake was in waiting to the last minute, and agreeing to a lesser amount for their "privacy".
But Im not sure its "getting away" with anything to offer $4000. for a winning ticket? Sounds more like a very wise purchase to me........
Right, I heard one person say that most people who play the lottery really don't want to win and the reason they do play the lottery is because the risk of winning is very very LOW.........
I think the clerks were doing the poor slob a favor......
In fact, Im starting to feel as though they may have overpaid a bit for the ticket......
No problem, just read the post on page 11.
The clerk literally ran out of the store with the ticket in hand, the guy chasing him down the street!!!
He knew he was ripped off somehow!
There should be a criminal charge for playing the lottery under the influence of drugs.......
Anyone who is stupid enough to try and cash a $5 million ticket at the liquor store should lose the prize.
When this story first broke you can read my past blogs that i posted stating unequivocally that they were scammers part of a huge mass problem with middle eastern store owners using our own morals and principles against, because when we ask if it is a winner we trust them as store owners and we do not question what they say and so they use that against us. These people come from societies where they scam each other and rip off one another and so this is no surprise to me. I also sent a letter to the NYS lottery commission asking for an investigation in late September because i felt that as a tax payer i had a right to know if this was fully investigated first before they were paid out the money. I do not know nor do I really care of my letter had anything to do with it I am just glad at the results. this only further makes Dateline's story, of unscrupulous store owners, mostly of middle eastern decent, even more credible and real and we the public need to be aware that these people will do whatever they can do to take what does not belong to them so DO NOT TRUST THESE STORE OWNERS WHEN YUO BRING YOUR TICKETS IN. Either check your tickets yourself or sign and mail them into the lottery district office and they will give you an honest assessment of your tickets. The NYS Lottery personal are all very honest and very helpful people who will go out of their way to help customers because they know that our playing the games keeps their jobs alive.
For all those people that said I was a racist and that they won honestly and fairly well I guess you need a reality check because you were dead wrong and I was absolutely right. I live in and around these people because I refuse to move and I am telling you that they all live by a totally different set of standards, principles, moral conduct and respect than we were brought up with and they are using this knowledge against us. They are using our mutual trust and misusing it by stealing peoples lottery tickets and I am so glad that this guy remembered that it was his ticket because otherwise these brothers would have gotten away with it. You can read my past posts and you will see that I have been saying I tall along they are thieves period. It is a shame but it is a reality that we must wise up to because they are not good people morally. Some of my best friends are middle eastern and they will tell you flat out that what I say here is true. They actually are the ones that made me wise to their scams and devious deceitful ways.
I'm diggin' this small font size!![Naughty Naughty](/emoticons/Naughty.gif)
CAN'T READ THAT
HURTS MY EYES
There's an App to zoom in on those super small fonts, but it's $49.95.
Better to just not read the post, and keep your hard earned money. (there should be a warning to members, who have to read such small fonts).
It looks so professional, perhaps legalese....![What? What?](/emoticons/confused.gif)
WARNING: Do Not Read Small Font...........
Did an offer come with the post??????? I didnt read it........
i mailed my ticket in to tennessee and they mailed my check when i won![Big Grin Santa Big Grin Santa](/emoticons/biggrinsanta.gif)
the great usps![Party Party](/emoticons/party.gif)
Nice work HMW, Im proud to have you as a fellow LP member.