This Friday, January 20, Iris Amador Argueta, a 34-year-old US citizen, pleaded guilty before a New York state judge to second-degree robbery for having robbed a member of her family of the sum she had earned thanks to a scratch. . ticket, CNN reports.
She “stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from her cousin by lying to him about the value of the winning ticket,” the Nassau County District Attorney in New York said in a news release.
From $537,440 to…$20,000
The facts date back to October 28, 2020. A resident of Glen Cove, located on Long Island, buys a scratch ticket hold’em poker, Published by the New York State Lottery. Has luck. The jackpot amounts to one million dollars (537,440 dollars, 494,622 euros after taxes), which is the largest amount that can be won with this game.
Wishing to remain anonymous, the winner asks his cousin, Iris Amador Argueta, to collect the sum. In exchange for this service, he promises her $50,000. The young woman, originally from Houston, Texas, accepts and goes to her cousin to pick up the winning ticket. She emails it to New York State Gaming Commission, hand deliveries were not allowed at the time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But when he turns up again a few weeks later at his lucky cousin’s house, the disappointment is immense. She tells him that the ticket ultimately only had $20,000 on it. To prove her statements, she presents alleged documents issued by the New York lottery, as well as an envelope containing $13,436, corresponding to the amount won after taxes.
Press release
Reading a press release, Iris’s cousin learns that she has really stolen his winnings. On her website, the New York lottery had indicated that the sum of 1 million dollars had actually been pocketed, but by Iris Amador Argueta.
“When the victim initially reported that her cousin stole her million-dollar Scratch-Off ticket, it seemed far-fetched that a loved one could be so deceitful,” said Detective John Nagle, GlenCove PD.
So, the man decides to confront his cousin with the press release. She denies this, even going so far as to threaten him with legal action if he persists. The police investigation will reveal that Iris’s cousin’s suspicions were well founded, and that the young woman had indeed pocketed the $537,440.
Up to four years in prison
In the end, the investigators managed to find $317,857 in the bank accounts of the defendants, which were returned to Iris’s cousin. The latter, arrested last May, could be sentenced by her part to 4 years in prison next March.
“His greedy act was the end of his luck, and he will now serve prison time for his crime,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said.
Source: BFM TV
