The DA’s office said the victim asked Argueta to claim the prize on his behalf to remain anonymous, promising $50,000 of the prize.
Argueta, who lived in Virginia at the time, agreed to claim the prize on the victim’s behalf and drove to New York to receive the winnings.
At the time, though, the New York State Gaming Commission was not accepting winning tickets in person, so Argueta mailed the ticket to the commission on Nov. 13, 202, instead.
Within weeks, Argueta reportedly went to deliver the NYS Lottery paperwork to her cousin, which said the price winnings totaled $20,000. Along with the paperwork, she handed her cousin an envelope with $13,436 in cash, and said the rest was held for taxes.
The victim found a press release from the NYS Lottery website saying Argueta claimed the $1 million prize and received a lump-sum payout of $537,440 after taxes, the DA’s office said.
The DA added that the victim called Argueta, who said she did not have any more money and if continued to call her, she would take legal action. In May 2022, Argueta forfeited $317,857.13 in winnings from her bank account, which were returned to the victim.
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https://nypost.com/2023/01/22/texas-woman-pleads-guilty-to-stealing-cousins-1-million-winning-scratch-off-ticket/The valuable lesson that can be learned from the story above is that if you want to remain anonymous for your lottery winnings, do it yourself, and don't entrust money-related matters to other people
(even if that person is someone close to you)if i were am victim, i will not reconcile with that cheating cousin, unless she returns all my winnings that she has used, how about you?
You shouldn't really entrust your winnings with anyone except yourself.
This is one of those situations wherein you can really see the greediness of someone. The evil intention of the the cousin arose the moment she knew that there's a huge money involved. It was just so sad that it had to happen to the victim because of putting the full trust to the relative. It just angers me to know that people this greedy do really exist and are more aggressive in taking actions when in fact, the victim just wants to get the money back.
If I were the victim, I would definitely cut ties, file the case, and push through with it so that people like her will be served of what they deserve to experience. Punishment shall be given even though the abuser and victim is related by blood. It shall not be settled amicably because of the inconvenience and all the trouble the impulsive and selfish act of the cousin caused.