Lottery players are familiar with the scam attempt perpetrated by the Ashkar brothers, but recently new information surfaced. It appears like the father of those two wrongdoers has also been arrested and charged with conspiracy, as the authorities suspect that he knew about the fraud. The DA claims that Nayef Ashkar was aware of what his sons were up to, and even encouraged them to deceive the rightful winner, and claim the 5 millions for themselves.
Blood runs deep
What appeared to be a decent family business, went terribly wrong when the two brothers decided that they should attempt to scam the lottery winner. When the player came to their store and asked about the money he won, Andy Ashkar told him that he was entitled to $5000 instead of 5 millions. Furthermore, he explained the lucky winner that in order to speed up the process and avoid any tax issues, it is better for him to receive the money in cash. This was the beginning of the story and from this point onwards everything went downhill for Andy and his brother.
Now that the authorities are also linking 56-year old Nayef Ashkar to the fraud attempt, he will be convicted as well, while Andy and Nayel were charged with conspiracy and attempted grand larceny charges. Andy is also accused of possessing stolen property and at the end of the day all three of them risk serving a lengthy prison in jail. The authorities are still keeping some information secret, but the new data released to the media paints a fairly clear picture of how broad the conspiracy was.
A simple yet effective scam attempt
The main reason for why this fraud attempt appears to be so simple, is that the two brothers simply seized the moment and didn’t premeditate the crime. They took advantage of the fact that the winner was still in shock and was not fully realizing the magnitude of his luck. Despite the fact that he suspected something to be wrong, he accepted the $5000 and only realized what was going on six years later. The two brothers assumed that if enough time will pass, their chances of getting away with the crime will increase.
While it is already too late for them and justice will be served eventually, the lucky winner can still hope to be reimbursed six annual installments for a total of $1.5 million. It is not yet clear how the lottery officials intend to do that, but their representatives confirmed the fact that they are working on a solution and hope to come up with a satisfying answer. As for the criminal family, the future is bleak as they are most likely going to spend the next couple of years in jail.
About Jonathan White
Hi, my name is Johnathan and you can find me on Google+. I`m a freelance writer and one of the team of talented and faithful LotteryPros.com and LotteryCrunch.com contributors. Lottery is my hobby, inspiration and a favorite subject to write about. I do hope that my sincere posts will help you to become more rich and successful. Stay tuned!
