Key takeaways:
- Ali Jaafar and his son Yousef Jaafar of Watertown, MA were sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in a massive lottery fraud scheme.
- The Jaafars cashed in 14,000 winning lottery tickets over a 10-year period and lied on their tax returns to cheat the IRS out of $6 million.
- Ali Jaafar was sentenced to 5 years in prison and Yousef Jaafar was sentenced to 3 years in prison, while Mohamed Jaafar was sentenced to 2 years of probation.
Two Massachusetts residents have been sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in a massive lottery fraud scheme.
Ali Jaafar, 63, and his son Yousef Jaafar, 29, both of Watertown, were sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
The Jaafars were part of a “ten-percenting” operation that involved dozens of Massachusetts convenience stores, thousands of lottery tickets, and more than $20 million in laundered profits. The scheme involved purchasing winning lottery tickets at a discount from people who wanted to avoid identification by the state lottery commission, which withholds taxes and outstanding child support payments from payouts.
The Jaafars cashed in 14,000 winning lottery tickets over a roughly 10-year period, and then lied on their tax returns to cheat the IRS out of about $6 million.
Ali Jaafar was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervised release, and Yousef Jaafar was sentenced to three years in prison and two years of supervised release. The third son, Mohamed Jaafar, was sentenced to two years of probation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston said that the sentences should serve as a warning to those who engage in similar schemes. “The Jaafars’ scheme to defraud the government and the public of millions of dollars was a serious crime, and they will now serve time in federal prison for their actions,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.
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