(Reuters) – A federal jury in North Dakota yesterday convicted a Jamaican man of participating in a lottery scam that cost dozens of people losses totaling more than $5 million, prosecutors said.
Sanjay Ashani Williams, 25, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud or mail fraud, conspiring to commit international money laundering and 35 counts of wire fraud, prosecutors said.
Williams, of Montego Bay, was one of the first Jamaican defendants implicated in the lottery fraud to be tried and convicted in the United States, prosecutors said.
The scam has snagged more than 70 victims who lost sums ranging from $300 to $800,000, prosecutors said.
“It is our hope that this groundbreaking prosecution will open doors for other jurisdictions to prosecute these cases and that the lessons we’ve learned can be used across the country,” Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Myers said in a statement.
