Remember The New York $5 million Brothers? It Was A Scam!

Last month, we bought you the story of brothers Andy and Nayel Askhar, who won a whopping $5 million on a scratch card purchased at the parents store in Syracuse, New York. Their story was unusual as they waited six years to claim their prize, as – unlike lottery winnings on the Powerball or Megamillions which must be claimed within 90 days to a year – scratch cards prizes don’t expire until a year after the end of the game. However, it has come to light in the first few days that the ticket actually belonged to another customer of the store, and the brothers have been charged with scamming the winning ticket from its rightful owner!

Both brothers have been charged with second degree attempted grand larceny and fourth degree conspiracy. Andy, 34, the younger brother of two years has also been charged with first degree criminal possession of stolen property.

The actual winner has been tracked down to be a 49 year old married father of two, who came forward after reading out the brother’s win in a local newspaper, and thinking that something didn’t quite ring true. He recalled how in October 2006, he had taken the winning scratch card to the brothers’ very shop and asked for confirmation of the win amount. Shocked, and thinking he had won $5,000 – not $5 million – Andy is accused of taking advantage of the man’s stunned state and offered him $4,000 from the till to avoid publicity. The man agreed and left the ticket in Andy’s hand.

Andy then sat on the ticket for six years, and when he went public, claimed he had avoided doing so in case he put at risk his impending marriage over the sheer amount of money won. However, it transpired that lottery officials were suspicious from day one, and it was only when the actual winner came forward that they had some real information to operate on. According to their lawyers, the brothers will be pleading not guilty at their upcoming court case. We at online-lotto.co.uk will be on the edge of our seats waiting to see how this story pans out.