On Thursday, June 15, Long Island resident Jason Kurland, 49, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in US District Court in Brooklyn.
He previously had convictions in July 2022 for wire fraud, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
According to prosecutors, Kurland was a partner in a Long Island law firm from 2018 to 2020 and had a reputation for representing lottery jackpot winners across the United States.
He is often marketed in the national media as a “lottery lawyer,” specializing in advising people who hit the jackpot out of the blue.
In 2018, Kurland won three major lottery winners – one won the $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery ticket, another won the $245 million Powerball jackpot and a third won $150 million jackpot.
Each victim paid him and his law firm hundreds of thousands of dollars for guidance on how to invest their winnings.
Prosecutors argued that after gaining their trust, Kurland directed his victims to invest in various ventures that he secretly co-owned and controlled with co-defendants Francis Smookler and Frangesco Russo.
Prosecutors said he was rewarded with undisclosed kickbacks based on a percentage of the lottery victim’s investment.
The trio used the victims’ investment income to maintain their plans and fund their lavish lifestyles, which included expensive vacations, luxury cars and two yachts.
Investigators also found text messages and phone calls from the group bragging about their plans.
In a text message to Russo, Kurland wrote, “Have to figure out how to get this message to us,” referring to a lottery victim’s winnings.
“Courland leveraged a unique attorney-client relationship built on the principles of honesty and fidelity to secure multimillion-dollar investments for him and his co-defendants,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District said in a statement. statement.
Prosecutors also highlighted a pre-investment meeting Kurland held with one of the victims.
“Haven’t talked about the investment yet, but I’m as ready as I can get,” he texted Smookler and Russo.
Prosecutors said the victim later invested $5 million in one of Kurland’s businesses without knowing he was the owner.
On another occasion, Kurland convinced one of his victims to unknowingly buy his and his co-defendant’s entire business for $2 million.
He later bragged about the move in a text message to Smookler, saying, “It was like looking at my bank statement today. No lie.”
In April 2020, Kurland, Russo and Smookler began investing in personal protective equipment (PPE) deals in an attempt to cover losses and conceal the fraud, according to prosecutors.
Kuran was found to have stolen $19.5 million from the account of a lottery victim, though only some of the money was spent on so-called PPE transactions. Instead, millions of dollars went to Chierchio and other co-defendants.
In all, prosecutors argued, the actions of Kurland and his co-defendants cost lottery victims more than $80 million, in addition to the $19.5 million that Kurland stole directly from one victim.
Chierchio pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering after earning more than $25 million in personal income.
He was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $26.5 million in forfeiture and $30.5 million in restitution.
In addition to jail time, Kurland must pay a $64.6 million fine. His compensation will be determined at a later date.
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