Drug dealer ordered to return lottery winnings (Updated 08/18/05)

C

cascadia

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 24, 2000
Messages
696
Location
Portland, OR
Drug dealer ordered to return lottery winnings

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/06/lottery.drugs.reut/index.html

Drug dealer ordered to return lottery winnings

HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) --A Texas man who won $5.5 million in the state lottery has been ordered to give it up because he bought the winning ticket with money made selling cocaine, federal officials said Friday.

Lawyers for Jose Luis Betancourt argued that the ticket was purchased with cash from selling old clothes, but a jury in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, disagreed and ruled Wednesday he had to forfeit the cash, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Herrera.

Betancourt, 52, was arrested January 17, just three days after collecting the $5.5 million, for selling 36 grams of cocaine to an undercover agent.

Prosecutors said he had been selling cocaine for at least two years before winning the lottery.

He was found guilty of drug dealing last week and is behind bars awaiting sentencing that could put him in prison for life.

Texas Lottery spokeswoman Kristina Tirloni said the forfeited money would go to the federal government, not the state.
 
At first I was about to get really angry. Then I realized that if he said he got the money from selling old clothes that he probably didn't have a job. And if he didn't have a job but was making a living selling drugs, well screw him, he deserved it for not paying taxes like everyone else.
 
Is it common practice for the lottery commission to ask the winner "how they got the money for the ticket?" That seems kind of stupid, to me. It's none of their damned business.

But if that dumbfuck just offered up that information without being asked, then screw him for being ignorant.
 
just because he did a drug deal previously before buying the ticket...how can they PROVE the money he paid for the ticket was the money he got from sellin the coke? i mean for all they know he could of had a damn 5.00 bill from his wallet and decided to use it for that...theres no way to prove it so i dont understand:o
 
That's Texas for you. The guy will probably get the death penalty now. You know how those Texans like to roast there criminals. What always got me is how they have deathrow inmates on suicide watch to prevent them from killing themselves, so that the state can do it for them, with taxpayers money. (I don't know how much it costs to execute someone, but I'm sure it is not cheap.)
 
Update

Washington Post
17 August 2005

Link

BROWNSVILLE, Texas -- A convicted drug dealer rolled snake eyes Wednesday when an appeals court ruled he can't keep his lottery winnings because he bought the lucky ticket with drug proceeds.

Jose Luis Betancourt was convicted in May 2003 of conspiracy and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

The jury had ruled then that Betancourt, a Mexican citizen, should forfeit half his interest in the lottery jackpot _ about $5.5 million _ because the ticket was purchased with his ill-gotten gains.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said federal law allows the government to seize all property and proceeds obtained from drug trafficking.

"Mr. Betancourt's luck ran out, and appropriately so," said U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg.

The appeals court also upheld Betancourt's drug trafficking conviction and his sentence of more than 24 years in prison.

The U.S. attorney's office did not immediately return a call late Wednesday about whether the funds had been forfeited during the appeals process.
 
Lol, I'd forgotten all about this dude... silly bastard carrying on dealing even though he won the lottery.

24 years though... harsh.
 
Guy is obviously a TOOL, why would you need to sell drugs AFTER you collect $5.5M from a lottery win ? Give me a break...

8(
 
tramagesty said:
That's Texas for you. The guy will probably get the death penalty now. You know how those Texans like to roast there criminals. What always got me is how they have deathrow inmates on suicide watch to prevent them from killing themselves, so that the state can do it for them, with taxpayers money.
Click to expand...

Thats an interesting observation




and going from winning 5.5 million, to a drug sentance of 24 years all in a month. That's enough to give anyone a stroke.
 
Well what do you expect? Of course 12 people are going to rule against a drug dealer.. Even though there is NO proof that the govt. has to show he used proceeds from drug sales to buy that ticket they still went with it.. Of course the appeals courts are going to go with it .. the money is going to the Man. Why don't they give it to charity? I mean the government didn't earn it either..
 
^^ Read again


Betancourt, 52, was arrested January 17, just three days after collecting the $5.5 million, for selling 36 grams of cocaine to an undercover agent.
Click to expand...
 
Crazeee said:
^^ Read again
Click to expand...

that doesn't neccesarily mean he sold the drugs that day. he coulda sold to an undercover a while before and they didnt' bust him til that day.
 
Hell, this could all very well bee a choreographed attempt by LE to take the career criminal for his new found wealth.

They'll do it in Iraq, they'll do it here at home.

Would bee interesting to hear what kind of audio or video footage they have of this "alleged" trafficking. Was the cop wired? Then again, some people are more addicted to slinging then they are the money, so anything is possible. Doesn't surprise me if this is all true.

5.5 mil is a lot of money and with this amount it is not difficult to stage players to say what needs to bee said to push for forfeiture proceedings. They do people like this everyday, (for MUCH less) the only thing that changes on the search, arrest warrants, (from previous convictions) is the address and the name of the affiant. Fill in the blank type paperwork. Why wasn't he arrested on the spot, right after the sale?

He may have just been an easy mark, it isnt as if he can prove different...

I could bee wrong but I dont trust LE as far as I can throw them...

The biggest mistake he made was not leaving the country immediately, when he had the chance.

If the price of the ticket was a few hundred bucks, then questioning where the money originally came from to buy it would bee more relevant. Hell, he could have washed windows curbside or bummed change in a supermarket parking lot to get a few dollars.

They did him so fucking wrong... I wonder if the guy barely spoke english. Sounds like a classic case of exploitation to me.
 
Last edited:
^yeah, it sounds to me like the guy, I think was Mexican, must have recieved extremly poor legal representation. I'd say if he were white it would be a different story. What this seems to amounts to, is day light robbery. The man could just have easily found the money for the ticket could he not?

So he claimed to have sold old clothes to purchase the tickect...'but the jury disagreed'...ummm, wouldn't the court have to prove that the actual $5 used for the ticket was from drug sales'? This sounds like a case of a setup. I bet the undercover agent pleaded with him to sell him coke....but then we will never know since the reporting of this story is so very shallow.
 
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txs/releases/August2005/050817-Betancourt.htm

August 17, 2005

John Yembrick
Public Affairs Specialist
P. O. Box 61129 Houston, TX 77208
Phone: 713/567-9388 Fax: 713/718-3389
CONTACT US

5 th CIRCUIT RULES DRUG DEALER MUST FORFEIT LOTTERY WINNINGS

(BROWNSVILLE, TX) – United States Attorney Chuck Rosenberg announced the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirming the convictions and substantial sentence of Jose Luis Betancourt for drug trafficking offenses, and the forfeiture of his interest in the winning Texas Lottery ticket for the December 11, 2002, Texas Lottery drawing. The 5 th Circuit Court's opinion was issued today.

“I am proud of the men and women of this office, and their aggressive and proper use of the forfeiture statutes to recover this money for the United States,” said United States Attorney Chuck Rosenberg. “Mr. Betancourt's luck ran out, and appropriately so.”

Betancourt, 52, a resident alien from Mexico residing in Brownsville, Texas, appealed the May 30, 2003 jury finding that resulted in his conviction for conspiracy and two counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and the jury's June 2, 2003, verdict finding that Betancourt had purchased a winning lottery ticket with drug proceeds and must therefore forfeit his one-half interest in more than $5 million in Texas Lottery winnings.

Two days after the Texas Lottery Commission paid Betancourt approximately $5.5 million, representing the cash out proceeds from the Texas Lottery minus an amount withheld for federal income taxes, he delivered cocaine that led to his arrest and convictions. Betancourt's arrest followed his long involvement in drug trafficking activities in the Brownsville, Texas, area.

In a written opinion issued August 17, Judge Edith Brown Clement, writing for a three judge panel of the 5 th Circuit Court of Appeals, concluded that there was sufficient evidence to show that Betancourt was the leader of a drug dealing organization that involved at least five persons. The panel also concluded that District Judge Hilda Tagle made a reasonable and conservative extrapolation of the evidence from the trial when she approximated the amount of cocaine Betancourt sold between May 2000 and his arrest in early 2003 at 102 kilograms. The Court of Appeals found that Betancourt's sentence, a total of 292 months in federal prison, without parole, was “reasonable” under the Supreme Court's recent decision in United States v. Booker. In denying Betancourt's claim to the contrary, the appellate court found that he had failed to prove the District Court would have sentenced him to a lower sentence.

Federal law authorizes the government to seek to forfeit all property and proceeds obtained from drug trafficking and any monies or other property obtained with those proceeds. The Fifth Circuit agreed with the District Court's determination that Betancourt did not have any other source of income aside from selling cocaine; therefore, he acquired his interest in a winning Texas lottery ticket with money he had made selling cocaine. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals concluded that Betancourt's Texas Lottery proceeds of approximately $2.7 million – his interest in the total amount of the winnings – were correctly forfeited to the United States.

This case was investigated by agents of the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Brownsville, Texas, the Cameron County Sheriff's Office, and Brownsville Police Department. The case was prosecuted in the district court by Assistant United States Attorneys Jody L. Young and Elena Salinas of our Brownsville, Texas office and at the appellate level by Assistant United States Attorneys Sue Kempner and Richard Berry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top