Subjects connected with alleged insider lotto fraud win $12.5 million jackpot
Seven former co-workers allegedly cheated out of a lottery jackpot in 2003 picked up a $14.85-million cheque Thursday after an investigation identified them as the rightful winners.
Working construction together seven years ago in southern Ontario, the men played the lottery regularly. When their Dec. 26, 2003, Super 7 ticket ostensibly failed to win them millions, they thought nothing of it.
Last September, police charged a Burlington, Ont., convenience store worker and his children with fraud.
They are accused of cashing the $12.5-million prize in December 2004 and living the high life with their windfall – buying five luxury cars, two homes in the Toronto area, commercial properties, fancy jewelry and electronics.
The charges set off a high-tech search for the “rightful” winners of the jackpot, and on Thursday the seven men collected their winnings – with interest.
The men, all in their 30s except for one who is 40, beamed as they talked about the future.
Their wish lists were simple enough – pay off the mortgage, help out family and buy new vehicles.
“This stuff doesn’t happen to people like us,” said one of the winners, Adam Barnett.
Although they received $2.12-million each, the men said they’d continue working.
Police seized or froze about $10-million in assets from the convenience store worker and his children, and Ontario Lottery and Gaming chairman Paul Godfrey says a civil suit is being launched against the family.
Jun-Chul Chung, 60, Kathleen Chung, 29, and Kenneth Chung, 28, face several charges, including fraud over $5,000 and possession under $5,000.
It all began after one of the seven men bought a ticket at a That’s Entertainment video store in St. Catharines, Ont., police say.
The police allege the ticket was validated at a Burlington convenience store, where it won a free play.
The father and son who validated the ticket at the store never handed the free ticket over to the customer, police say.
It was that free play ticket which hit the jackpot.
Police allege the father gave the ticket to his daughter, who claimed the prize and denied she had a connection to a lottery retailer.
Deputy Commissioner Scott Tod of Ontario Provincial Police says investigators got hundreds of tips from the public as they probed the purported insider win case.
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