His unlucky numbers turned out to be 5 and 15.
A compulsive lottery player pleaded guilty today to stealing $2.3 million from condo and co-op buildings he managed in Manhattan to feed his love of randomly drawn ping-pong balls.
Richard Bassik, 67, will be sentenced to 5 to 15 years behind bars after accepting a deal that could keep him locked up until death. With time already served, Bassik's best hope for freedom won't come until early 2015.
"I hope when he gets out, it'll be on his own two feet and not in a pine box," said defense lawyer Michael Soshnick. "That would be a particularly pathetic way to pass into the next world."
Bassik admitted to pocketing the seven-digit loot between January 2005 to August 2009, using his property management company to raid accounts of 19 different properties.
The buildings suffered between $7,000 and $881,000 in losses and Bassik said he'd often cover his tracks by moving money from account to account.
"I claimed these were innocent mistakes, when in fact, they were thefts," Bassik told the court after pleading guilty to 14 counts that included scheme to defraud and grand larceny.
Almost all of the stolen money went to a variety of lottery games he played in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Soshnick said.
"It was a weekly ritual for him," Soshnick said. "He didn't have any viable defense. He was clearly guilty as charged."
Bassik, who wore a short-sleeve shirt, glasses and close-crop haircut to court this afternoon, will be formally sentenced on Oct. 15.
Three women in court today said they live in buildings Bassik ripped off. One of the victims said she was livid after learning Bassik had a previous conviction — busted in 1976 for kidnapping a 6-year-old boy and demanding a $100,000 ransom.
"He needs to be off the streets," said the female homeowner, who declined to give her name.
Thanks to LckyLary for the tip.
I can usually come up with $2 a week ...... so I don't have to steal to cover my lottery habit !
Well .......... Saturday could just be another day .......... but ........... maybe I can get a $61.3M % ROI !
Looks like he should have just kept the $2.3 million he stole and went to Nepal.
It worked pretty good for Joshi when he stole Willis Willis' money. Nobody can find him over there.
Even Bob Seeger said if he ever gets out of here, he's going to Katmandu.
Article made me think of an article a while back of a lady from a doctors office who stole $2.3 million (quite a coincidence).
I find these stories pretty crazy that someone would steal that much money to play the lottery and also because of how they never won anything huge after spending so much money, really shows that you can't force a win (the lady won $25,000 once over the course of three years).
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/140429
Badly behaved woman, guess she was no LADY!
Dpoly, I wouldn't order the yacht yet. There was some lady who was a news anchor on a major network who acquired a taste for gambling at casinos. She was spending (losing...) huge amounts of money, and she later told of week-long binges of BlackJack playing. She even kept her dog with her in her purse (I don't think she bet the mutt, though..) These are sterling examples why addictions to gaming should convince states to eschew establishing lotteries, or allowing casinos. If they do allow them, the odds (and, of course, the jackpots) should not be so high as to render the patron's chances of winning virtually nil.
I would prefer to see that one person eschew gambling and not make everybody eschew it. Everybody eschewing it will not excuse her not eschewing it. Even the people in the pews cannot excuse when she chooses to refuse to eschew it. It's herself she screws if she chooses to lose. Yes, it's her own undoing, and possible screwing by not eschewing.
That reminds me, I'm almost out of eschewing tobbaco.
He should've been eschewed from breathing after kidnapping a child.
Ridge Runner, we're not discussing a few exceptions to prudent gambling habits, we're talking about millions of people addicted to lotteries and casino gambling. These people bet money obtained from credit card ATMs, friends, casino markers, selling their property (indeed, their own bodies, in some cases..) and in the end stages, stealing money from their work, their families and the public in general. More and more, we're going to hear about such addictions, and how they can be attributed to the states running lotteries and building casinos on every vacant lot. Las Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City are probably the most intelligent examples of concentrating gambling activity within limited regions. Now that every Podunk County in the U.S. has an indian casino down the block, in conjunction with some form of sanctioned lottery, the problems associated with gambling addictions will be much more widespread.
So are you saying we should do away with the lottery?
I don't think I'm getting your point.
"........to feed his love of randomly drawn ping-pong balls."
I'm wondering if he was one of the heavies on the Prediction Forum and what name he was using.
Ut oh.....
ridge runner, I would do away with lotteries the way they are set up now, absolutely. I would also not sanction casinos on indian reservations. California had a decent lottery set up initially, which entailed a "6/49" winning combination. According to lottery officials, people complained about low jackpot amounts, or multiple winners splitting said jackpots. They then established a "5+Mega Number" combination which effectively doubled the odds of losing. Players 'dream' about those monstrous jackpots announced regularly in the media, and pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the lottery coffers trying to purchase a virtually impossible winning ticket combination. This was a scam, because scant few people win those jackpots, and millions of people spend their rent money trying to get rich quick, and wind up broke. California is saturated with liberal crooks in every strata of our government ('You think those public officials with six-figure salaries in Bell, California are the exception, and not the rule?), and they have once again hoodwinked the populace into opening their wallets to feed the socialist kitty that keeps them in office.
So you want better odds, smaller jackpots, more winners. OK, I can understand that.
For a minute there I thought you were out to be the Carrie Nation of the lottery industry.
ridge runner, the whole mess has become a bait and switch scam. Our schools were supposed to receive substantial proceeds from lottery sales, and they're still worse than broke. The odds are so staggering against winning even modest amounts from Lotto and Mega Millions games, you might as well write a letter to Santa Claus, asking him to hand you your winnings. Wherever these funds migrate to, they certainly aren't going to benefit the organizations we were originally told they would.