Federal prosecutors say the New York attorney who billed himself as "Amerca's Lottery Lawyer" swindled the Simpsonville resident who hit the $1.5 billion-dollar Megamillions jackpot in 2018 out of more than 70 million.
46 year old Jason Kurland, and three others, including a fomer securities broker, are charged with wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
The U-S attorney for the Brooklyn District says the men swindled three people -- known in the court papers only as lottery victims one, two and three -- out of more than 107 million dollars.
The Upstate victim who hired Kurland shortly after collecting the winings in 2018 lost more than 70 million accordng to the indictment.
Kurland had charged an upfront payment of 200-thousand dollars, then fifty-thousand a month.
The justice department says he and his co-conspirators then transferred millions more to what the client believed were secure investments, but the prosecutors say the money had gone into the accounts of bogus ventures all tied to the four defendants.
Acting United States Attorney Seth DuCharme's announcement of the charges says,"The defendants callously thought they could line their pockets with lottery winnings without consequence, but today their luck ran out."
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