Lottery players are familiar with the case of the Ashkar brothers who tried to steal a lottery ticket from a winner, when he presented it to them in the convenience store where he bought it. The incident happened almost seven years ago and prosecutors have been trying to prove their guilt ever since, with the most recent updates suggesting that one of the brothers will spend up to 25 years in prison. Andy Ashkar conspired with his brother and father to strip the rightful owner of his $5m lottery ticket, while presenting him with only $5000.
Playing everything on one card
The Ashkar brothers didn’t think twice when they realized that they had the chance to deceive the winner and they were not intimidated by the potential consequences. They owned a convenience store where lottery tickets were also sold, and the lucky winner came to them to redeem his ticket. Robert Miles appeared to be overwhelmed by the fact that he won the lottery and Andy Ashkar decided to make a move
Taking advantage of his inability to realize the magnitude of his good fortune, he tricked him into accepting $5000 instead of redeeming the true value of the $5m lottery ticket. Mr. Miles was oblivious about what happened and accepted $4000 assuming that the additional 1000 was taken away by the state as taxes. He then casually went back home and celebrated his victory, without knowing what was at stake and things would’ve probably stayed that way if the two brothers hadn’t committed a mistake. They tried to offset the risks by waiting until the very last moment to claim the prize, but their actions defeated the purpose as the lottery officials got suspicious and refuses to pay them right away.
Theft and conspiracy charges pending
The two brothers told lottery officials that they chose to wait so long before claiming the $5m lottery ticket because they needed time to plan what they were going to do with the money. Furthermore, they asked the lottery representatives whether it is possible to forsake a portion of the money in exchange of total anonymity. Unlike other lottery winners who are thrilled with their performance and couldn’t care less about the formalities, Andy Ashkar and his brother seemed overly concerned.
Now that he was convicted for up to 25 years in jail it is obvious that he had good reasons to be worried about what the future might bring to him. Judge Joseph Fahey showed no lenience and convicted him to spend time behind bars, while his father was also charged with conspiracy charges. The silver lining if there is any, is that Robert Miles finally recuperated his ticket and will get the money he deserves. As for the Ashkar the only solace is found in the fact that Nayel was eventually cleared of conspiracy charges.
Check out the NY brothers claim $5M win from ’06 lottery tickets as well.
About Marry Levental
Hi, my name is Marry and you can find me on Google+. I`m a little bit crazy about the lottery and writing about it is my real vocation. The lottery is a cool thing and I don`t share the opinion that it`s a tax on the poor. Look around, the world is full of chances. Why don`t you get yours right now? All you need to do is to read our recommendations and to start playing lottery online. Good luck!
