Woman admits stealing $1M lottery prize from NY cousin’s scratch-off ticket

A woman has admitted stealing a $1 million prize from her cousin’s scratch-off ticket in New York.

Iris Amador Argueta, 34, of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the second degree, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Friday.

“This defendant thought she hit the jackpot when she passed off her cousin’s $1 million winning ‘scratch-off’ ticket as her own and claimed a lump sum payout of more than $500,000,” Donnelly said in a statement. “But her greedy actions also spelled the end of her luck, and now she will serve time in prison for her crime.”

Here’s how happened:

Argueta’s cousin won a $1 million jackpot prize from a $5 Hold ‘Em Poker scratcher bought at a 7-Eleven in Glen Cove, N.Y., on Oct. 28, 2020. The cousin wanted to stay anonymous, which lotto winners are not able to do in New York state — and so he asked Argueta to claim the prize and offered her $50,000 to do so. She agreed.

Argueta, who was living in Virginia at the time, drove to New York to pick up the ticket, and then mailed it in because the New York State Gaming Commission wasn’t allowing tickets to be claimed in person due to Covid-19 protocols. Argueta then allegedly showed her cousin false paperwork that said his ticket only won $20,000 and gave him just $13,436 in cash, claiming the rest of the money was kept for taxes.

The victim learned that Argueta lied about the value of the prize when he saw Argueta’s name on the New York State Lottery website, which showed she took a lump-sum payout of $537,440 after taxes. When Argueta refused to give him more money, he contacted the Glen Cove Police Department, who investigated with the Nassau County D.A.’s Office.

“The worst part of the crime,” Detective Lieutenant John Nagle of the Glen Cove Police Department said, “was the fact that it was perpetrated by the victim’s own cousin.”

WPIX reports Argueta was required to return $317,857.13 in winnings from her bank account to her cousin, who has not been identified.

Argueta is scheduled for sentencing March 15 and faces between 1-1/3 years and 4 years in prison.

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