Posted on 06/05/2003 4:14:32 PM PDT by chance33_98
Jury: Texas Man Must Forfeit $12M Lottery Winnings
Defense Plans To Appeal Verdict
POSTED: 11:01 a.m. EDT June 5, 2003 UPDATED: 11:02 a.m. EDT June 5, 2003
BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- A $12 million lottery winner bought his lucky ticket with drug proceeds and must return the money, a federal jury said Wednesday.
The jury on Friday found Jose Luis Betancourt, 52, guilty of conspiracy and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. They had been deliberating the forfeiture issue since Monday.
"We're obviously satisfied," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jody Young said. "It was an appropriate verdict."
Defense attorney Baltizar Salazar said his client planned an appeal.
"We're disappointed that the jury could not separate the difference between lotto proceeds, which were legitimate proceeds from the Texas Lottery Commission, from Mr. Betancourt's illegal activities," he said.
Salazar said prosecutors knew Betancourt planned to use the winnings to build low-income housing and not to buy drugs.
Trial testimony showed Betancourt had been trafficking cocaine more than two years before his arrest and was dealing cocaine days after his winnings were deposited into his bank account.
Betancourt won the money in December 2002. Prosecutors said that on Jan. 14, after lottery officials verified his winning ticket, approximately $5.5 million -- representing the cash-out proceeds minus an amount withheld for federal income taxes -- was deposited into Betancourt's bank account.
On Jan. 16, he was recorded delivering 36 grams of cocaine to a confidential informant and discussing his 20-year involvement in drug trafficking and his association with the Gulf Cartel. He told the informant he had more cocaine at his apartment.
Agents searched Betancourt's apartment the next day and found an additional 1.63 kilograms of cocaine and drug paraphernalia hidden in the dishwasher and pantry.
Testimony also showed that Betancourt had not filed or paid federal income tax since 1989.
The defense was unable to back a claim that Betancourt bought the ticket with money he earned selling used clothing.
Betancourt must return the $5.5 million and $76,000, which the jury determined to be his earnings from drug dealing.
He will remain in custody until his Sept. 2 sentencing, when he faces up to life in federal prison without parole and a $4 million fine.
Dude, you find the best stories... What was that one about the chick who was butt-a$$-nekked out in the middle of the park and her boyfriend spanking her with an oar... That cracked me up, dude.
He should have gone with the story that he was going to use the money to buy puppies for orphans.
Testimony also showed that Betancourt had not filed or paid federal income tax since 1989.
Obviously, no other means of "legal" income.
The defense was unable to back a claim that Betancourt bought the ticket with money he earned selling used clothing.
He tried to prove that he had income from a "leagal" source".
A rock has a higer IQ than this guy.
LVM
Yes, something in this smells of a drug tax.
Yes, dope dealers ruin lives; They are scum, etc., but then the authorities seem to also consider them a resource to be strip-mined.
Why, it's almost like tobacco taxes!
I hope you either get laid off tommorrow or what ever business you are in goes belly up real fast.
What heartless fool you are my friend
In this case, that includes me. I got laid off from a job a week after 9/11, and have been able to work sporadically while I've been going to school for retraining. I graduate in two weeks, and hope to find a job in the coming economy that the tax breaks are supposed to create.
Spending my unemployment checks on the state lottery is not what legislators had in mind when they set up unemployment programs. They intended me to use that money to sustain myself, and by extension, the community where I live and shop, and piddling money away on a pipe dream is not gonna help anybody but the convenience store owner. I already buy enough newspapers and soda pop from him to do my part in keeping him in business.
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