Prosecutors say a Massachusetts father and son have been sent to prison for running a sophisticated lottery fraud scheme designed to enrich themselves and help winners avoid paying payouts. taxes on the money they earn, prosecutors said.
Ali Jaafar, 63, and Yousef Jaafar, 29, both of Watertown, racked up 14,000 winning lottery tickets over a period of about 10 years, laundered more than $20 million in proceeds, and then made false statements on the paper. their tax returns to trick the IRS. about $6 million, the US attorney’s office in Boston announced Monday.
The Jaafars bought the winning lottery ticket at a discounted price from people who wanted to avoid being identified by the state lottery commission, which deducts taxes and unpaid child support payments from the payments. .
After buying tickets, using the shops that sold them as intermediaries, Jaafars received the full amount of the bonus. Prosecutors said that although they reported winnings on their tax returns, they also claimed equivalent fake gambling losses as an offset to avoid federal income taxes. .
Ali Jaafar was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Yousef Jaafar received a sentence of more than four years. They were also ordered to pay $6 million in compensation and forfeited profits from their plan.
They were convicted in December of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, conspiracy to commit money laundering and false tax returns.
Mohamed Jaafar, another son of Ali Jaafar, pleaded guilty in November and is awaiting sentencing.
The defendants paid the owners of dozens of lottery ticket shops to facilitate transactions, and the state lottery commission is in the process of revoking or suspending the licenses of more than 40 lottery agents. number, authorities said.
