Former store owner pleads guilty to stealing $5.7-million lotto ticket

A former convenience store owner pleaded guilty Friday to fraudulently claiming a $5.75-million winning Lotto 6/49 ticket as his own.

Hafiz Malik, 62, validated the lottery ticket at his now-closed convenience store near Dufferin Street and Dupont Street in June 2004 but didn't tell his customer she had won the jackpot.

Seven months later, he claimed the prize, according to an agreed statement of facts read out in court.

After receiving the jackpot in Feb., 2005, Malik moved from his apartment, bought a million-dollar house, Land Rover and Mercedes. He was arrested in Dec. 2007 and his assets and bank accounts frozen after the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation determined four Toronto Catholic District School Board employees were the rightful ticket owners.

Friends Lorraine Teicht, Paul Carlisi, Silvana Pincivero and Aurora Pincivero regularly played the same lotto numbers.

Three of the group initially hired a private investigator to look at the fourth member after suspecting she had claimed the prize.

The investigator "took them on a wild goose chase" before they realized they might have been duped by Malik, Crown attorney Philip Perlmutter told the court. The group went to the OLG with their suspicion in July 2007.

Five months later, Malik was arrested and they were awarded the $5.75 million prize plus $788,000 in interest.

An auditor's report found the OLG paid out more than $198-million to insiders between 1995 and 2008.

Greg Harris, a lawyer for the rightful winners said the plea "brings a sense of closure."

Malik, who hid his face under a scarf as he left the courthouse, remains free on $60,000 bail.

He is back in court March 16 for sentencing submissions. The maximum penalty for fraud of more than $5,000 is 14 years.

One legal expert told Canwest News that based on the amount of the fraud and the circumstances of the case, the Crown is likely to seek a sentence of about four years in prison for Malik.

The audit was preceded by a scathing report by Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin who blasted the OLG for being more fixated on profits than the integrity of games after a disproportionate number of lottery retailers or their families claimed winning tickets.