Friends and family describe the 63-year-old as humble, devoted to helping others and “a gentle soul,” according to court documents. But officials claim there was more to Ali Jaafar.
A father and son from Massachusetts have both been sent to prison for running an elaborate lottery fraud scheme designed to enrich themselves and help prize winners avoid paying taxes on their windfall. Federal prosecutors said Monday that 63-year-old Ali Jaafar and 29-year-old Yousef Jaafar cashed in 14,000 winning lottery tickets over a roughly 10-year period, laundered more than $20 million in proceeds, and then lied on their tax returns to cheat the IRS out of about $6 million. Ali Jaafar was sentenced to five years in prison. Yousef Jaafar received a sentence of more than four years.