A New York store owner cheated a man out of his lottery winnings when he only paid out $1,000 of his $1 million jackpot.
According to Fox News, a 34-year-old man who didn't speak English attempted to cash in his lottery ticket at the Peninsula Deli and Grocery in Hempstead, NY on Thursday.
When the clerk, 26-year-old Karim Jaghab, scanned the ticket, a message read, "File claim: jackpot winner – please return original ticket to the customer along with a claim receipt," making the man's winnings $1 million. However, Jaghab told the man he had won $1,000 and paid him the money in cash.
The man returned the next day under suspicion that the store had cheated him. Jaghab then told him that he would give him $10,000 if he didn't call the police, and was backed by his father, 57-year-old Nabil.
When the man called the police, the Jaghabs wer charged with grand larceny. CBS reports that their attorney, Matthew Fleischer claims that the lottery machine Jaghab used in the store was malfunctioning, and furthermore, that the Jaghabs are very cooperative in the investigation. “My client was cooperative with detectives in this matter,” Fleischer said. “He wasn’t trying to evade the investigation.”