A dozen indicted following lottery fraud scheme in Massachusetts

A dozen individuals and three retail stores were indicted for tax fraud this week following charges for a “ten-percenting” scheme that enabled lottery winners to commit tax evasion without easy detection
Image: Shutterstock

A dozen individuals and three retail stores were indicted for tax fraud this week following charges for a “ten-percenting” scheme that enabled lottery winners to commit tax evasion without easy detection.

As reported by MassLive, the 12 individuals were indicted by a statewide grand jury and the charges were announced by the office of Attorney General Maura Healey. 

Two elderly people were charged with false statements under penalty of perjury, conspiracy to evade taxes, attempting to impede or obstruct the administration of Massachusetts tax laws and money laundering.

Seven other individuals and three retail shops were charged with conspiracy to evade taxes, whilst another man was charged with tax evasion.

‘Ten-percenting’ relates to the act of buying winning lottery tickets from their owners for a 10-20% discount, thereby allowing the original winners to avoid declaring the winnings on their tax returns. 

Back in August, a family was arrested in Massachusetts “on one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and multiple counts of filing false tax returns.”

The Attorney-General’s office reported the family claimed nearly $21m in winning lottery tickets from over 13,000 tickets between 2011 and 2019 through the ten-percenting scheme.

The indicted individuals are waiting to be arraigned at Suffolk Superior Court, with a date not yet set.