Bail Blog
01/29/2013
Running a lottery scam is a guaranteed ticket to jail.
Three people in France were reported for fraud by home lottery winners after finding out the organizing team did not own the homes in the drawing.
Leonardo Simpatico, a property agent, sold tickets to 40,000 people telling them they were being entered in a drawing to win one of six houses or apartments, with a money-back guarantee if they didn’t win.
He collected a total of $5.39 million from tickets sold.
The winners soon discovered Simpatico had not completed the deals to purchase any of the homes in question.
Simpatico along with his daughter and a notary were arrested and charged with fraud, operating an illegal lottery and illegal betting.