{"id":278247,"date":"2023-06-20T07:49:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T12:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=278247"},"modified":"2023-06-20T11:46:35","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T16:46:35","slug":"lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lottery Lawyer\u2019 Gets 13 Years for Bilking Winners for $107M"},"content":{"rendered":"

A self-described \u201clottery lawyer,\u201d who represented some of America\u2019s biggest winners, has been ordered to spend the next 13 years in federal prison for defrauding his clients of $107 million.<\/p>\n

\"Jason
Jason Kurland, above, stole from his clients, a jury determined. These included the winner of the world\u2019s all-time biggest jackpot, $1.5 billion. (Image: David Handschuh\/NYLJ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jason Kurland, 49, was convicted<\/a> of wire fraud, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering last July. He used his position as a trusted legal professional to entice his clients to invest in companies he secretly owned while accepting illegal \u201cfinder’s fees\u201d for brokering the deals.<\/p>\n

Kurland positioned himself as America\u2019s premier lottery legal expert and even owned the URL lotterylawyer.com. Among his clients was the all-time biggest lottery winner in history<\/a>, the anonymous South Carolina individual who took the $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot in 2018.<\/p>\n

Cheddar Capital<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Kurland\u2019s side venture was a merchant cash advance business called Cheddar Capital, whose partners included Frankie Russo, son of the late Colombo crime family capo, Joseph \u201cJoJo\u201d Russo.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Kurland, Russo, and a third partner in the business, Frank Smookler, met with a Long Island jeweler, Greg Altieri.<\/p>\n

\n

Altieri told the trio he could buy jewelry at \u201cclearout\u201d prices and flip them for a 30% to 70% profit, but he needed capital. Sensing a \u201cfoolproof\u201d moneymaking opportunity, Kurland convinced his lottery clients to invest around $80 million in the venture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The FBI arrested Altieri in 2020 for running a massive Ponzi scheme. The Cheddar Capital trio panicked and began chasing their losses. As the pandemic gripped the nation, they stumbled on a company that planned to supply PPE equipment to the state of California.<\/p>\n

Kurland convinced the anonymous South Carolina winner to invest $19.5 million into this scheme. When he was told twice that much would be needed, he simply helped himself to the rest from his client\u2019s bank account, which he controlled.<\/p>\n

Bad Investments<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The PPE company proved to be another shady venture. The business was operated by reputed Genovese crime family soldier Christopher Chierchio, and Kurland never saw a return on the investment.<\/p>\n

Last week, Chierchio was sentenced to five years imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. He was also ordered to forfeit $26.5 million and pay $30.5 million in restitution.<\/p>\n

Kurland was the only defendant in the case not to plead guilty. His lawyers argued that he was a victim of the others. A jury disagreed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Telemachus Kasulis, an attorney representing Kurland, told The Associated Press<\/em> that he disagreed with the decision and planned to appeal.<\/p>\n

The amount Kurland will be required to forfeit and pay as restitution will be determined within the next 90 days, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A self-described \u201clottery lawyer,\u201d who represented some of America\u2019s biggest winners, has been ordered to spend the next 13 years in federal prison for defrauding his clients of $107 million. Jason Kurland, 49, was convicted of wire fraud, honest services wire fraud, and money laundering last July. He used his position as a trusted legal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":221462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13699],"tags":[86756,86757,86758],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Lottery Lawyer\u2019 Gets 13 Years for Bilking Winners for $107M<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jason Kurland, the Lottery Lawyer,\u201d sentenced to 13 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering scheme.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Lottery Lawyer\u2019 Gets 13 Years for Bilking Winners for $107M\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jason Kurland, the Lottery Lawyer,\u201d sentenced to 13 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering scheme.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-20T12:49:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-20T16:46:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lottery-lawyer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1016\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"614\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Lottery Lawyer\u2019 Gets 13 Years for Bilking Winners for $107M\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lottery-lawyer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-20T12:49:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-20T16:46:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Jason Kurland, the Lottery Lawyer,\u201d sentenced to 13 years in prison for wire fraud and money laundering scheme.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lottery-lawyer-gets-13-years-for-bilking-winners-for-107m\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lottery-lawyer.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lottery-lawyer.jpg\",\"width\":1016,\"height\":614,\"caption\":\"Jason Kurland, above, stole from his clients, a jury determined. 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