Lottery News

The anonymous and the most famous winner of the record-making $1.4 billion Mega Millions lottery jackpot from South Carolina has come out of complete hush-hush to deliver an official statement against New York "Lottery Lawyer" Jason "Jay" Kurland that says, how he stole $83 million from her in lieu of his deceiving schemes. 

The United States Department of Justice, On July 26, formally announced that a jury has found Kurland, 48, guilty of defrauding his "LOTTERY WINNER" clients of more than $100 million. One of those winners, who has lost almost $83 million to the scamster has stepped up again to explain, how she fell prey to his schemes. 

On October 24, 2018, a woman from South Carolina, scanned the numbers on her ticket and realized, that she is the new billionaire. She got in the car and drove off to KC Mart in Simpsonville to see if there was some hustle and bustle about the news. Maybe if nobody was there, surely she has mistaken the results! But as she stopped by the convenience store, there were media, helicopters, and locals. After four months of making her lucky lottery purchase, the winner of the second-largest jackpot in the world, stepped forward to claim the payment of $877.78 million. So, Kurland came up as the winner's spokesman and legal representation. Until this point, he had already represented a lot of winners in the past, including $254.2 million Connecticut Powerball winner, a $336.4 million Rhode Island Powerball winner, and a $121.6 million Delaware Powerball winner. He branded himself quite a knowledgeable advisor who has helped winners navigate managing money and legalities. But in August 2020, the self-titled lawyer for lottery winners was charged with wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, majorly for robbing millions of dollars from clients. 

As per his past records, the South Carolina winner was one of his largest clients and biggest victims. The con that he played scooped a large amount of money from the winner's prize pool. Co-conspirators of Kurland 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 pleaded guilty. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Kurland's conviction on Tuesday, July 26, a jury from New York unanimously convicted Kurland of five counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and honest services wire fraud. The court reports, that an estimate of $100 million has been stolen from three different winners.

So, if you have won a lottery prize, do not fall prey to such people’s schemes who show themselves as a helping hand. Rather do all your research on the ins and outs of how to claim a lottery prize and know the legal tips that can help you from getting scammed by such conmen.