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Emotions run hot in NY brothers' $5M lottery ticket trialNews Story
Defense attorneys had the chance this morning to question a lottery investigator who interviewed two brothers claiming to have won $5 million off a scratch-off ticket sold at their father's store. Jay Hemlock, who was called to the stand Tuesday afternoon by prosecutor Beth Van Doren, was in court for further testimony this morning. Hemlock said he investigated Andy and Nayel Ashkar's claim for $5 million with the New York State Lottery. The brothers are on trial in Onondaga County Court b
Apr 24, 2013, 5:44 pm - Lottery News

NY brothers' $5 million lottery theft trial enters second dayNews Story
The trial of two brothers accused of trying to claim $5 million in winnings off a stolen lottery ticket started Monday at 1:00 pm in Onondaga County Court, in Syracuse, New York. (See Non-jury trial expected next week for lottery-thieving brothers, Lottery Post, Apr. 19, 2013.) Andy Ashkar, 34, is accused of stealing a winning ticket from customer Robert Miles at The Green Ale Market on East Fayette Street in Syracuse on Oct. 27, 2006. Prosecutors say Ashkar told Miles the Extravaganza tic
Apr 23, 2013, 4:52 pm - Lottery News

Non-jury trial expected next week for lottery-thieving brothersNews Story
Two brothers accused of attempting to claim $5 million from the state lottery office with a stolen scratch-off ticket will waive their right to a jury trial, according to attorneys. (See NY brothers charged in plot to steal $5M New York Lottery ticket, Lottery Post, Nov. 14, 2012.) Andy Ashkar, 34, and Nayel Ashkar, 36, will opt on Monday to have County Court Judge Joseph Fahey decide their innocence or guilt, said defense attorney Robert Tisdell. Tisdell, who is representing Nayel Ashk
Apr 19, 2013, 2:57 pm - Lottery News

Judge throws out some charges against lottery-thieving brothersNews Story
An Onondaga County Court judge who dismissed attempted grand larceny charges against two brothers accused of stealing a winning $5 million lottery ticket in 2006 ruled the crime was beyond the statute of limitations. Judge Joseph Fahey upheld other charges brought against Andy Ashkar, 34, and Nayel Ashkar, 36, who are accused of taking a scratch-off lottery ticket from a customer at their father's convenience store on Oct. 27, 2006. Prosecutors contended that because the brothers waited to
Apr 16, 2013, 7:35 am - Lottery News

N.Y. Lottery may lift curbs on Quick Draw keno gameNews Story
Pronto Lotto does not look like much. It sits outside the entrance to a busy subway stop in Elmhurst, Queens, supplying passers-by with cereal, chips and milk like any other bodega. But Pronto Lotto's real business takes place in the carpeted, hushed area where its most devoted customers watch video screens from a scattering of tall silver tables, hour after hour, day after day. The players mostly men, about a dozen at any given time come on their lunch breaks or after work to study the sc
Feb 22, 2013, 3:30 pm - Lottery News

Plea deal settles N.Y. lottery ticket trial; immigrant will get $2.5MNews Story
A plea agreement Friday in Rockland County Court has ended the case involving a Spring Valley, New York, immigrant's $3 million lottery ticket and three men accused of trying to steal a portion of it. Elfido DeLaRoca will get about $2.5 million before taxes over the next 15 years, while the three men will avoid jail on a theft charge. One of the men will get $300,000 from the winnings. DeLaRoca, 45, a Guatemalan national living with his fiancee and daughter, bought the $10 scratch-off tick
Feb 16, 2013, 8:02 am - Lottery News

Million-dollar lottery jackpot revives college dream for Brooklyn womanNews Story
Hard times forced Linza Ford to drop out of college, but a $1 million lottery jackpot has revived her educational dreams. The 19-year-old Brooklyn woman was one of 10 lucky New Yorkers who collected oversized checks Thursday totaling $13 million in lottery winnings. Ford had just completed her freshman year at Hofstra University when her dad had to go on disability and her family was forced to make sacrifices. With money tight, Ford put her goals of earning a degree in psychology or soc
Dec 21, 2012, 7:12 am - 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

NY brothers claim $5M win from '06 lottery ticketNews Story
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 o
Oct 17, 2012, 9:24 am - Lottery News