Asians behaving badly... stolen lottery ticket edition! A $12.5 million lottery ticket. A Toronto-area family is accused of stealing a winning lottery ticket from unsuspecting customers, cashing it in, then hiding the money through various means: Lottery agency tries to recover $12.5M insider win.The Chung family, who managed the Variety Plus store in Burlington, Ontario, allegedly stole the winning Lotto Super 7 ticket in 2003, then gave the ticket to a family member to claim. Since then, the money's been spread around through a complicated "spider web" of accounts in an effort to cover their tracks.
The Chungs were charged in September 2010. Kathleen Chung, 30, faces charges of fraud, possession of property obtained by crime and laundering proceeds of crime. Her brother, Kenneth Chung, 28, and their father, Jun-Chul Chung, 62, were each charged with several counts of theft, possession of property obtained by crime and laundering proceeds of crime.The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation has filed a lawsuit against Kathleen Chung, the woman who claimed the ticket. But at this point, the whole thing's a mess. The agency has already paid out money, plus interest, to the rightful owners of the winning ticket. And as more time as passes, the harder it becomes to recover the money from that crafty Chung family. More here: $3.6M from 'insider lottery win' sent offshore. (Thanks, Theresa.)
Since Kathleen Chung cashed in the ticket in late 2004, her family appears to have socked money away in dozens of bank accounts in the Toronto area, Seoul and New York, tucked it into life insurance policies and bought $10.5-million worth of properties, including mansions and a Tim Hortons building, according to the lawsuit and land registry documents.
Forensic accountant Marilyn Abate says the Chungs appear to have set up a sophisticated "spider web" of accounts and numbered companies, a sign they were likely expecting the OLG to come after them.