New York Men Facing Larceny Charge For $3M Lottery Theft

By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times

Three Rockland County men who scammed a hard-working immigrant out of $3,000,000 he won playing the lottery have been arrested and charged with one count of first-degree grand larceny, a class "B" felony in the State of New York.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe issued a press release announcing the arrests of Atif Ali, of North Main Street in Spring Valley, Riaz Khan, and Mubeen Ashraf both of Barr Lane, in Monroe. Zugibe said in February 2011, the victim bought a number of New York Lottery scratch-off tickets at a Spring Valley convenience store, where Ali was employed as a store clerk.

One of the tickets was a huge winner, paying a top prize of $3,000,000. According to prosecutors, when Ali learned the man won, he allegedly conspired with Ashraf and Khan, the former owner of the convenience store, to prevent the man from collecting his prize money by telling him that if he claimed the ticket, it would lead to immediate deportation. Ali then allegedly persuaded the man to give him the ticket.

Zugibe said that Ali opened a bank account, specifically for deposit of the stolen funds, then presented himself to the New York Lottery Commission as the true and legal owner of the $3,000,000 winning ticket and received the first of 20 annuities prize payments totaling $150,000.

Four additional annual payments totaling $600,000 were advanced to Ali and his partners in crime and deposited directly into that bank account. The men duped the victim, who received absolutely nothing, out of $750,000. The Rockland County Supreme Court issues a temporary restraining order early this week freezing the bank account containing the stolen funds.

"This alleged crime is particularly egregious as the defendants are accused of targeting a hard-working immigrant," said Zugibe. "These defendants are con men who preyed upon the innocent victim using fear and threats of deportation. They are now charged with having been motivated by greed in committing this blatant extortion of thousands of dollars in lottery winnings."

All three men were arraigned at the Spring Valley Justice Court on August 22, 25, and 30, 2011 and ordered jailed in lieu of $250,000 cash bail. Ashraf's next court hearing is September 8, 2011. The defendants each face a maximum of 25 years in state prison, if convicted. The investigation into the theft was conducted by the Rockland County Special Investigations Unit, the Spring Valley Police Department and the New York State Lottery Commission.