Attorney who allegedly conned millions from big jackpot winners appears in three-week trial
By Kate Northrop
Trial is officially underway for the New York-based attorney who is charged by federal prosecutors with stealing millions of dollars from the dozens of significant lottery jackpot winners he advised.
Jason "Jay" Kurland, 48, was the lawyer many big lottery winners would go to for counsel on how to manage their newfound absurd amounts of wealth. Now, he's on trial for conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Prosecutors estimated that Kurland stole more than $80 million from his clients after advising the winners to invest in businesses he owned as well as entities managed by co-conspirators. He was arrested in August 2020.
One of his victims won the record-breaking $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery jackpot in 2018, the second-largest jackpot to-date and the largest payout to a single player ever.
Nandlall Mangal, who won a $245.6 million Powerball jackpot in 2018, was one of the winners duped by the attorney. On Wednesday, the first day of the trial, Mangal testified against Kurland, saying that the lawyer befriended him after he came into his lucky fortune and subsequently betrayed his trust.
"We had a large lump sum of money," Mangal testified. "We didn't know what's coming next. He made us feel very comfortable, very sure he could do this."
Kurland owned a merchant cash advance business, Cheddar Capital, which provides funds to other businesses in exchange for a percentage of their daily credit card income. He is accused of funneling the winners' money into his firm, but Mangal said he did not know how it did business or that Kurland was the owner, since he never volunteered the information.
Had he known Kurland's connection to Cheddar Capital and if he would be buying an ownership stake in the business, Mangal said he would have considered the investment differently.
"We didn't want to buy a company, to own a company, we don't want to do anything like that," the lottery winner said.
He discovered the truth when the FBI came knocking on his door in November 2019.
Kurland's defense lawyer, Tim Kasulis, argued that Mangal had full transparency and would have known how his money was being invested by looking at tax returns and other information at his disposal. Kasulis asked Mangal whether it would have mattered that Kurland was getting a 1% kickback from Cheddar.
"If I had known that he was getting paid back then, yes, it would have made a difference," Mangal responded. "And if he was getting paid, it wasn't because of my best interests."
In Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Pellegrino's opening statement, he claimed Kurland established a sense of legitimacy with his lottery clients by guiding them toward traditional investing funds.
"Then after gaining their trust, the defendant began to pitch his clients on certain alternative investments," Pellegrino continued. "To make sure he closed the deal with his clients, the defendant intentionally lied to them. The defendant never told the clients that he was one of the owners of the businesses that he was invested in, and the defendant never disclosed the 1% kickback fee that he was receiving."
With that kickback money he was receiving from the lottery winner's investments, Kurland and fellow schemers were able to invest tens of millions into a $200 million Ponzi scheme run by Long Island jeweler Gregory Altieri, Pellegrino revealed.
"Everything was going great until it all fell apart," he stated.
To recoup their losses, the "lottery lawyer" and his cohorts concocted a deal to invest in face masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) that they could resell to the state of California at the height of the pandemic.
"Kurland convinced his largest lottery client to invest $19.5 million," Pellegrino went on. However, the accomplices in charge of the deal told him that they needed double the amount, so he just stole the cash directly from the winner's account without permission, the money "never seen again."
"He took it right out of his lottery client's bank account, which he controlled," Pellegrino said.
Kurland's co-conspirators include former securities broker Frank Smookler, Frankie Russo, the son of a Colombo crime family capo, and Christopher Chierchio, who is supposedly a big-name player in a Genovese crime family but described as a Genovese family soldier in court documents. All three have pleaded guilty, with Smookler and Russo set to testify against Kurland.
Defense lawyer Kasulis is painting a different picture of the relationship between Kurland and his former accomplices. He argues that Kurland is the real victim in the case, having been lied to, stolen from, and mocked.
"There are real criminals in this case, and you are going to meet some of them in this courtroom, but Jason is not one of them," Kasulis claimed.
Through the funds made available by Cheddar Capital, his cohorts bought houses, yachts, and luxury cars. He alleges that Kurland went forward with the PPE deal because he was steered toward it by the co-conspirators after investments started going south due to COVID-19 and the Ponzi scheme.
Kurland's defense team also plans to play wiretap evidence, in which the co-conspirators can be heard mocking him.
"You'll hear Smookler and Russo mock Jason," Kasulis contended. "You'll hear them call him stupid... You'll hear them call him a duck, a chicken. You'll hear them call him their prey."
The three-week trial resumed Thursday in Brooklyn federal court.
* Thank you Kate.l have been waiting for this one. I'm hoping to see how Jason attempts to slither his way out of this and come out clean on the other side. He said he wants " his reputation back."
Not sure I'd want THAT reputation back if it involves that con job! Wow!
That lottery winner is the one that lost $$$. The other cohorts we're just using it to build or splurge.
I stand by the logic that the best person to handle your funds is...you! Sure get guidance or suggestions. keep the access though to yourself or an entrusting friend/relative .
I have been waiting for this trial. I know most of the lp members know this but your attorney should never be suggesting investments connected to him/her. Tax advice, yes, but keep specific investment advice with your financial advisors. Do not hire an attorney who can give legal advice and manage your funds. No one stop shopping. Keep that separation to ensure checks and balances. And do not give your power of attorney and/or controlling access to your investments to these advisors.
He will lose his license later for misuse of client funds regardless of the trial outcome.
* As the saying goes " it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye!"
Jason Kurland obviously did some pretty awful things, but if I am the U.S. Attorney there is no way I am putting any members of 2 of the most notorious mafia families in history on the stand as my witness. Frankie Russo and Christopher Chierchio should not be given deals. A lot of the scams he pulled would not have been possible without those guys. If I was on the jury I would be thinking they all should be held responsible.Great story Kate.
What many wealthy people do is hire something that most non-wealthy people have never heard of. They hire a "Family Office".
This is what a high net-worth individual can expect from a Family Office;
The trial is concerning Jason Kurland. Jason was not abducted off the street by the mafia and held in captivity by the mafia and forced to break the law under threat of torture or death. If someone approached him to engage in illegal conduct, he had an ethical obligation to report it. He was a willing and enthusiastic participant.
This trial against him is going to set great precedent for the protection of lottery winners and future lottery winners are going to learn what their attorney should not do during representation.
"advising the winners to invest in businesses he owned as well as entities managed by co-conspirators."
Wonder if Frankie Russo and Christopher Chierchio managed one or more of the entities.
Lots of people say the first thing they will do "when they win the big jackpot" is to hire a team of experts. I guess to give them directions to lottery headquarters because their team can't change any of the lottery rules and regulations.
Some winners keep it simple by getting information from their brother-in-law or an Internet chat room "expert". '
"LOCK HIM UP"!
That's what happens when you get greedy
Invest what? With all that money that is the investment that's enough money to last a lifetime and somebody else's lifetime trying to make more money gtfoh good for you
Stop Being Greedy keep it real partner give to the needy
Kurland's defense team also plans to play wiretap evidence, in which the co-conspirators can be heard mocking him...You'll hear them call him a duck...
Ah yes, the Duck Rule. If the defendant has been called a duck, the jury must acquit.
Looks pretty bad for Kurland. But at least he is not Alex Murdaugh right now.
Are we supposed to feel sorry for him because wise guys called him names?. What a <snip> shame. This guy had it made but he decided to get too greedy. When I win, I shall hire all the help I need but nobody gets access to my bank accounts. I AM THE ONLY ONE THAT SHOULD BLOW MY OWN WAD.
Jason thought he was going to be a big player in the mafia. Beyond stupid.
Alex M. What slime!
people do not like their money screwed with whether its $10 or $10 million
Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive
what a low life phoney disgusting lawyer
LP Members already know what I'm going to post....what about restitution and everyone don't laugh so hard. Can't get money out of stone.
OTOH Self service lotto machines out here...let someone else call IGT in RI.
LOL. He probably justified it by telling himself:
The Bloomberg article has some hilarious extra details about his plastic surgeon brother-in-law and how he also got wrapped up in the scheme too. A "DrBFixin" who wrote The Brazilian Butt Lift Bible.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-07-01/mega-millions-winners-lost-riches-after-using-lottery-lawyer
Wow. I look forward to the Netflix movie. If he gets less than 20 years, it will be a mockery of justice. That article deserves an award.
I saw several well known mafia members many years ago when I was having dinner with friends in the Chicago area at a small Italian restaurant. It really was like a scene from a movie with their behavior and speech. 4 of them were seated at a table. They offered to pay for our dinner and I said no thanks. Then we ate quickly and left. We were all law students at different schools.
yep. i knew alex "most likely" murdered, them poor victims, his own wife, and son smh sad.
I hope he get LIFE.
+
boo hoo hoo. smh Big whoop... calling him "names"smh... Pathetic he is. What greed."
I knew of, a Jason "Kurland" and he used to be a lawyer, for a long time, but, it's not the same person.
I'm highly doubting it. He used to know a cousin of mine back home, in California, and then went to practice out here,
on the East Coast.
River,
I know... A shame. I just smh to some who are like that. I know not all lawyers became real rich,
Many do live or are rich, or at least living quite "comfortably" but this right here, is just pure greed, and it's wrong. Pathetic he is.
Following this story.
Doctors and attorneys work hard for their degrees so with that comes higher wages typically but it depends on your field of practice. But stealing and misuse of client funds is the easiest way to get in serious trouble as an attorney. I am sure his state bar/bars have already begun internal proceedings and are just waiting for the outcome of the trial.
kurland oughtta git a yr in Prison for everry Million he stole..right next to the Cellz of hiz cohortz..!!
Great Reporting Kate..
I felt like I wuz right there in the Courtroom..
"Are we supposed to feel sorry for him because wise guys called him names?"
It's really simple. He needs (at least one member of) the jury to find reasonable doubt in order to avoid conviction. If the other guys involved really believe that he was an idiot who bought into their BS there's reasonable doubt that he knew he was steering clients into bad/fraudulent investments, and wasn't just another patsy that was victimized by the career criminals.