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Wife questioned in lottery winner deathNews Story
The widow of a West Rogers Park, Illinois, man who died of cyanide poisoning weeks after winning a $1 million lottery jackpot was questioned extensively by Chicago police last month after the medical examiner's office reclassified the death as a homicide, her attorney said on Tuesday. Authorities investigating the death of Urooj Khan also executed a search warrant at the home he had shared with his wife, Shabana Ansari, according to Steven Kozicki, her attorney. Ansari later was interviewed b
Jan 9, 2013, 12:30 pm - Lottery News

Lottery winner's death was blamed on natural causes — until a relative raised questionsNews Story
Urooj Khan had sworn off playing the lottery after he took an Islamic pilgrimage to the Middle East in 2010, but as he stood in a 7-Eleven near his home on Chicago's Far North Side this summer, he lost his will for a moment, handing over $60 to buy two instant-game tickets. After scratching off the second ticket, he leaped in the air, shouting over and over again, I hit a million! When Khan, 46, accepted an oversized check from Illinois Lottery representatives days later at the same store
Jan 7, 2013, 9:38 am - Lottery News

N.C. store clerk charged in lottery scamNews Story
Police arrested a convenience store clerk Thursday after she allegedly told a customer his ticket wasn't a winner, then cashed the $50 winning ticket after the man left the store. Kathleen Patricia McClusky, 19, of Clayton, was charged with obtaining property by false pretenses. She was working as a clerk at the Kangaroo Station on U.S. 70 in Clayton. She was taken to the Johnston County jail under $15,000 bond. The incident occurred Dec. 23 when Luis Flores-Bautista of Clayton gave McC
Dec 31, 2012, 2:22 pm - Lottery News

Father charged with helping sons steal $5 million lottery ticketNews Story
The owner of a Syracuse, New York, convenience store was arrested this week on charges of conspiring with his son to steal a $5 million lottery ticket from a man who'd bought it at the store. Nayef Ashkar, 56, was arrested Tuesday by an investigator with the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office on a charge of fourth-degree conspiracy. Ashkar agreed with and encouraged his son, Andy Ashkar, in the taking and withholding of the $5 million winning scratch-off ticket from Robert Miles, a
Dec 10, 2012, 7:37 am - Lottery News

NY brothers charged in plot to steal $5M New York Lottery ticketNews Story
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 se
Nov 14, 2012, 8:07 am - Lottery News

2007 lottery winner accused of armed robberyNews Story
A suspect charged with the armed home invasion and robbery of a couple who had just returned from their honeymoon won $1 million in the Massachusetts Lottery in 2007. Rashad Blount, 26, formerly of Middleboro and now of Dorchester, won the $1 million grand prize in the Lottery's $800 Million Spectacular instant game on Feb. 12, 2007. He bought the $10 scratch ticket at a store in Middleboro and was to receive annual payments of $50,000, minus taxes, for the next 20 years. Blount and Ric
Oct 28, 2012, 9:13 am - Lottery News

Lottery winner indicted on 31 countsNews Story
Days after a Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, woman sought permission to subpoena Frederick Rick McMenimen's bank records, the former Exeter financial adviser sought Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, court records show. The bankruptcy claim essentially halted Susan Wagstaff's lawsuit seeking to recoup $900,000 that she claims McMenimen took from her under the ruse that he was investing the money. It also stopped legal action connected to another $1.5 million civil judgment against McMenimen fo
Oct 10, 2012, 7:32 am - Lottery News

Michigan lottery winner convicted of welfare fraud gets probationNews Story
The Lincoln Park, Michigan, woman who made national headlines for continuing to accept food stamp benefits after winning $1 million on a Michigan Lottery game show was sentenced today in Wayne County Circuit Court to nine months of probation. Amanda Clayton, 25, won the money on the show Make me Rich! last year and took home more than $700,000 after taxes. She was charged in April with two felony counts of welfare fraud failure to inform for not alerting the state Department of Human Services
Jul 24, 2012, 4:51 pm - Lottery News

UK Lottery winner jailed for benefit fraudNews Story
A man who won nearly 5 million (US$7.8 million) in the UK National Lottery, but fraudulently claimed about 13,000 (US$20,200) in benefits, has been jailed for nine months. Edward Putman, 46, who was convicted of rape in 1993, won the life-changing sum in September 2009. But he continued applying for housing benefit and income support and even wrote to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and his local council claiming he was broke and could not even afford to eat. In reality he wa
Jul 24, 2012, 10:13 am - Lottery News

Internet poker owner handed 14-month prison termNews Story
An owner of Absolute Poker, one of the three largest Internet poker companies, was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Monday after admitting to deceiving banks over the processing of gambling proceeds. Brent Beckley, 32, joined Costa Rica-based Absolute Poker in 2003 and became its head of payment processing. Last December, he pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to break U.S. laws against gambling on the Internet. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit
Jul 23, 2012, 9:23 pm - Lottery News