A 32-year old woman, Iris Argueta, has been arrested and charged for cashing her cousin’s $1 million lottery prize money in New York.
According to a joint press release from the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and Glen Cove Police Department, Iris was instructed by her cousin to help him withdraw the winning lottery ticket as he wanted to remain anonymous. The cousin agreed to pay her $50,000 in exchange for her help in claiming the prize winnings from a $5 scratch off ticket he had purchased in Glen Cove, New York.
The police reported that Iris had driven to her cousin’s residence to take possession of the winning ticket and mailed it to the New York State Lottery to claim the lottery prize. She chose the option of receiving the payment as a one-time lump sum payment from lotto officials which, sumed the money up to $537,000.
The police report stated further that after cashing the lump sum, Iris lied to her cousin that the lottery ticket won was $20,000 and handed him an envelope containing $13,436, claiming that the rest was taken out for taxes and other charges. She then presented her cousin with forged documents containing the winning details purpotedly from the lottery officials.
It was further disclosed that the victim reported the incident to the police after seeing the lottery officials’ press release stating that Iris actually did claim the $1 million lottery ticket.
The police in their investigation disclosed that they were able to recover more than $317,000 of the allegedly stolen funds from Iris’ bank account.
