Courts
Sections
Highlight
Sections
Highlight
David Maroto
Valencia
Friday, 1 November 2024, 14:30
A court in Valencia has sentenced a married couple, owners of a bar located in the town of Pedralba, to three years in prison for fraud and ordered them to pay compensation of more than eleven million euros to a customer who they convinced to share the prize she had won in the country's Father's Day lottery draw after assuring her that there was no way of knowing which of the three tickets they kept in the bar were hers.
The sentence, to which SUR's sister newspaper ABC has had exclusive access, describes the strategy "schemed" by both convicted "with the intention of obtaining a patrimonial benefit" from the money of the tenth of the number 39,813, which won 15 million euros per fraction and series. In addition to this ticket, there were two others that had won 130,000 euros each, so they persuaded the beneficiaries to divide the sum of all of them into four parts.
The judge decreed that of the 11.15 million euros in compensation, 7.4 million euros will go to the complainant and 1.8 million euros to each of her two children. According to the resolution, these amounts will also be "jointly and severally" liable with those directly responsible, as "participants for profit" among the rest of the beneficiaries of the prize distribution. Specifically, between six people who did not commit the crime but benefited unknowingly, will pay 9.25 million.
According to the court, the complainant played the lottery every week individually with the same number, without the participation of third parties except for her children with whom she intended to share in any prizes she might win. She would buy 10,123 and 12,396 plus an additional random number. That time she chose the 39,813, a number that was also purchased weekly by the bar owner with a friend and, at the same time, by another customer, who in both cases entrusted the tickets to the owner for safekeeping in different cabinets kept in the bar.
It was on 12 March when the complainant and resident of the town of Pedralba bought the lottery ticket in the bar, which is currently closed and for sale. However, knowing that she would not be able to go to the town the following week, she gave it to the bar owner for safekeeping, something she did on a weekly basis with the regular customers. In this way, the accused kept the folder with the tickets, both the one belonging to the victim and the other two.
The draw took place on 18 March 2017, the day that the father's day lottery was drawn. Once she was aware that the number she had, had won, "with the intention of obtaining a patrimonial benefit and in execution of a preconceived plan devised with her husband," she contacted the real winner to inform her that the ticket had won and asked her to go to the premises, according to the magistrate's ruling.
A few hours later, he arrived at the bar and, at that moment, the owners closed it by putting the leg of a table in the door so that no one could enter. It was then that they showed her the three winning tickets that they "had intentionally grouped together" and, "despite being aware that the winning ticket was hers", they told her that "they could not know who the owner of the special prize was" and that "if she wanted to collect the prize she would have to share it with the other three people who played the number", according to the ruling.
In view of these statements, according to ruling, the victim, "nervous about the news and unaware of any further details", agreed and, once the objective had been achieved, the bar managers contacted the other two people who, according to the defendant, had won the prize, who were also unaware of any further details and whom she informed separately that "they had all agreed to share the prize equally".
The accused then went to a notary located in the town of Lliria to formalise a statement of declarations, in which the distribution of the prize was recorded, "with the agreement of the complainant", as "she had been led to believe that she did not know which tenth was the winner".
As a result of this plan drawn up by the convicted parties, the victim and her children suffered a "significant financial loss" , as they were entitled to the full amount of the prize when they only received a quarter of that amount, i.e. 3.7 million euros, according to the conviction. In view of the above, the magistrate sentenced the owners of the bar the perpetrators of a crime of fraud under articles 248, 249 and 250.1.5 of the criminal code, to three years in prison.
An appeal may be lodged against this decision before Valencia's High Court of Justice, to be presented within ten days of its notification, dated Monday 28 October. The injured parties filed the complaint on 28 November 2017 as the start of a procedure that has lasted six years and almost six months, which they consider to have been "notably disproportionate" in relation to the "low complexity" of the case.
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Necesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.