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Convenience store owners accused in lottery scam
Canada - Canoe.ca:
TORONTO - Two Toronto convenience store owners are in custody accused of masterminding an insider lottery win to the tune of millions of dollars, QMI Agency has learned.
The details of the alleged scam will be revealed Wednesday when the OPP holds a press conference in the city's west end.
A day before the announcement, the OPP would only say it was a 'high profile investigation involving the fraudulent claim of a major Ontario lottery prize.'
And the OLG was tight-lipped.
But a police source confirmed the allegations involve the operators of a convenience store.
"The people charged are the owners of a store and they have been charged with fraud in the millions," the source said, adding the pair have been arrested.
It's unclear when the insider win is alleged to have occurred, but the OPP says the latest charges are separate from an investigation they launched in 2007 after a report by then provincial ombudsman Andre Marin revealed widespread corruption within Ontario lottery system.
That OPP probe led to the arrest of store owner Hafiz Malik, who was sentenced to a year in jail this summer for stealing a $5.7 million winning ticket from a customer.
OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis and members of the Inspection and Investigation Branch as well as the Asset Forfeiture Unit will provide details of their latest investigation at a hotel near the airport.
Not surprisingly, OLG Chairman Paul Godfrey has scheduled a press conference to be held nearby immediately after the OPP conference.
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