81-year-old Lynn man sentenced to prison for part in multimillion-dollar lottery ticket scam
The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office said Clarance Jones was a part of a “ten-percenting” scheme.
An 81-year-old Lynn man was sentenced Monday to two months in prison for his part in a multimillion-dollar lottery scam, according to federal prosecutors.
Clarance Jones, 81, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to commit tax fraud and filing false tax returns.
The Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office said Jones was a part of a “ten-percenting” scheme in which he bought millions of dollars of winning Massachusetts state lottery tickets at a discount to help winners avoid taxes.
Jones was the state’s “most prolific lottery winner” between Jan. 1, 2013, and May 14, 2014, the Boston Globe reported. He claimed nearly 1,750 tickets during that window.
Two store owners who prosecutors said were also involved with the scheme, George Kinslieh and Bhavna Patel, also pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiring to defraud the IRS.
The store owners were accused of giving Jones the winning tickets, which he claimed as his own. Jones reported the winnings on his tax returns, but offset them with purported gambling losses in the paperwork.
The three then shared the excess prize money, prosecutors said.
