The
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the Assistant Director-in-Charge
of the New York Office of the FBI, and the Special Agent-in- Charge of the
United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General for the Northeast
Area announced that a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employee was found guilty
October 25 of conspiring to operate an illegal gambling business throughout
USPS facilities, and other government workplaces. According to the evidence
presented at trial, and other documents previously filed in Manhattan federal
court: From 2005 to 2009, the suspect, who was then a USPS supervisor, along
with several co-conspirators who worked at the USPS and other state and local
government agencies, operated a "Lotto"-type gambling business ( the
"Lottery" ), which tracked the numbers chosen for the New York State Lotto
drawings and paid out on a monthly basis prizes in the range of $100,000 and
more. Each month, thousands of players paid $20 per entry in the Lottery.
"Lottery books," which listed each player's name and the six numbers
he or she chose to play per entry, were distributed to players from a central
storage facility in Brooklyn. The winner was the first player or players to
have all six numbers chosen in the New York State Lotto. During the course of
the conspiracy, the suspect and his co-conspirators collected over $10 million
dollars in illegal wagers, many of which were collected from USPS employees, as
well as employees of the Metropolitan Transit Authority and New York Department
of Sanitation. Much of the illegal activity took place on federal government
property and during work hours.