Store Owner Who Stole $5.7 Million Lottery Ticket Sentenced To One Year In Jail
Posted June 15, 2010 11:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A store owner who stole a $5.7 million lottery ticket from one of his customers has been sentenced to one year in jail.
Hafiz Malik, 62, pleaded guilty on December 4, 2009 and was sentenced on Tuesday.
The saga began in June of 2004, when the Lotto 649 ticket belonging to four friends was taken to a convenience store. When the customer scanned it, the machine didn’t make a noise indicating a jackpot win. Malik told the customer it was worthless and kept it for himself.
Lorraine Teicht, Paul Carlisi, Silvana Pincivero, and Aurora Pincivero had been playing the same numbers for years and suspected something was up.
In the years before his arrest, Malik sold the convenience store and bought a new home as well as several luxury cars. But the friendship between the four true winners, who worked together at the Toronto District Catholic School Board, deteriorated.
Malik was arrested in December 2007. After he was charged, the OLG presented the foursome with a cheque for the $5.75 million, plus an additional $788,000 in interest.
After Malik was convicted, he was sold his cars and home to pay back the money to the OLG.
Not all of Malik’s victims lived to see him sentenced. Shortly after he was charged, Teicht died of cancer.
