Man Sentenced to Jail for Multimillion Dollar Jamaican Lottery Scam

Montego Bay native Sanjay Williams has been convicted in North Dakota and now faces 20 years in prison for his key role in a multimillion dollar Jamaican lottery scam.

In US gambling news, 26-year old Williams has been sentenced to prison by the US District Court Judge Daniel Hovland in North Dakota. During his court appearance Williams behaved defiantly, arguing with the judge over the “fictitious” allegations against him and attacking the jury for failing to “use their common sense” when convicting him.

Williams is the co-leader of two separate scamming operations than ran out of Jamaica. His partner in crime, Lavrick Willocks, has been charged but not extradited to the US. FBI agent Frank Gasper said that together, Williams and Willocks had over 80 identified victims of their Jamaican lottery scam, and their losses total more than $5.6 million.

Jamaican lottery scam victimized seniors

Victim Edna Schmeets (Photo: Consumer Reports)

According to prosecutors, many of the victims of the Jamaican lottery scam were senior citizens. They first learned of the breach of US gambling laws from a report filed by Edna Schmeets, 86. Schmeets had received a phone call saying that she’d won $19 million and a new car, and to redeem her prize only had to pay taxes and fees. The long process wiped out the widow’s savings, costing her over $300,000.

A teary Schmeets told Judge Hovland that the scam had hurt her “not only financially but emotionally,” and said that she’d “lost everything.” Said Schmeets: “It’s hard to think you could fall for this stuff. I don’t know how they get you, but they do. It’s almost like they hypnotize you.”

Marlow McMahan, 84, was also victimized. While the amount stolen from him had not been disclosed, he’d revealed that he’d been forced to borrow from banks and acquaintances in order to claim a fraudulent prize. He told the judge he’d been duped because: “I come from a time when your word was your word and when somebody tells me I won millions of dollars, I believe them.”

In a sad addition, the lead prosecutor in the case, US Attorney Clare Hochhalter, showed a suicide letter from an anonymous 72-year old woman who’d also been scammed. She was one of thousands of victims of Jamaican fraudsters, who are estimated by US officials to take in anywhere from $300 million to $1 billion a year.