Reading Man Indicted In Lottery Scheme

Reading MA

26 October, 2021

2:25 PM

Description

READING, MA — A Reading man was among 12 people indicted in connection with a scheme to avoid taxes by laundering lottery winnings and lying under oath on lottery claim forms, Attorney General Maura Healey's office said. Paritosh Patel, 48, is charged with conspiracy to evade taxes. The attorney general's office also indicted three businesses, Underground Express in Boston, Richdale in North Reading, and NT Lucky Variety in Chelsea, on charges of conspiracy to evade taxes. Authorities said Khan and the other defendants, who are ticket-cashers, store owners or employees, bought winning lottery tickets from the true winners for cash, in a scheme known as "ten-percenting." This practice allows the winners to avoid financial obligations, including state and federal taxes, and the buyers to claim winning lottery tickets and retain a percentage of the winnings, sometimes as high as 10 or 20 percent, according to authorities. The defendants filed false claim forms in which they declared, under the penalties of perjury, that the winnings were their own, authorities said. Two true winners, Peter Marano and Adam Derebala, were identified by the attorney general's office and have been charged in the scheme. Store owners and employees funneled winning tickets to Frank Obey, of Lynn, and Kenneth Grossman, of Revere, who, along with Revere resident William McNamara, were using the Massachusetts State Lottery to launder money, the attorney general's office said. The following people were indicted by a statewide grand jury on Friday: Frank Obey, 80, of Lynn False Statement Under Penalty of Perjury (2 counts)Conspiracy to Evade TaxesAttempting to Impede/Obstruct Administration of Massachusetts Tax LawsMoney Laundering Kenneth Grossman, 69, of Revere Conspiracy to Evade TaxesAttempting to Impede/Obstruct Administration of Massachusetts Tax LawsMoney Laundering William McNamara, 67, of Revere False Statement Under Penalty of PerjuryConspiracy to Evade TaxesAttempting to Impede/Obstruct Administration of Massachusetts Tax LawsMoney Laundering John Heller, 73, of Revere Conspiracy to Evade Taxes Adam Derebala, 29, of Revere Failure to File a Tax Return Peter Marano, 52, of Boston Tax Evasion Karl Voelker, 67, of Boston Conspiracy to Evade Taxes Paritosh Patel, 48, of Reading Conspiracy to Evade Taxes Nelson Tejada, 43, of Chelsea Conspiracy to Evade Taxes MDGolam Talukder-Manik, 57, of Lynn (Employee of Richland Convenience Store located at 332 Nahant Road in Nahant) Conspiracy to Evade Taxes Ghanshyam Patel, 45, of Malden (Employee of Robinson's News Convenience Store located at 1556 Eastern Avenue in Malden) Conspiracy to Evade Taxes Muhammad Khan, 52, of Medford (Employee of Grab N Go located at 367 Washington Ave in Chelsea) Conspiracy to Evade Taxes