Medford Man Indicted In Lottery Scheme

MEDFORD, MA — A Medford man was among 12 people indicted in connection with a scheme to avoid taxes by laundering lottery winnings and lying under oath on lottery claim forms, Attorney General Maura Healey's office said.

Muhammad Khan, 52, is charged with conspiracy to evade taxes. He is an employee of the Grab N Go convenience store in Chelsea, Healey said.

The attorney general's office also indicted three businesses, Underground Express in Boston, Richdale in North Reading, and NT Lucky Variety in Chelsea, on charges of conspiracy to evade taxes.

Authorities said Khan and the other defendants, who are ticket-cashers, store owners or employees, bought winning lottery tickets from the true winners for cash, in a scheme known as "ten-percenting."

This practice allows the winners to avoid financial obligations, including state and federal taxes, and the buyers to claim winning lottery tickets and retain a percentage of the winnings, sometimes as high as 10 or 20 percent, according to authorities.

The defendants filed false claim forms in which they declared, under the penalties of perjury, that the winnings were their own, authorities said. Two true winners, Peter Marano and Adam Derebala, were identified by the attorney general's office and have been charged in the scheme.

Store owners and employees funneled winning tickets to Frank Obey, of Lynn, and Kenneth Grossman, of Revere, who, along with Revere resident William McNamara, were using the Massachusetts State Lottery to launder money, the attorney general's office said.

The following people were indicted by a statewide grand jury on Friday:

Frank Obey, 80, of Lynn

• False Statement Under Penalty of Perjury (2 counts)
• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes
• Attempting to Impede/Obstruct Administration of Massachusetts Tax Laws
• Money Laundering

Kenneth Grossman, 69, of Revere

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes
• Attempting to Impede/Obstruct Administration of Massachusetts Tax Laws
• Money Laundering

William McNamara, 67, of Revere

• False Statement Under Penalty of Perjury
• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes
• Attempting to Impede/Obstruct Administration of Massachusetts Tax Laws
• Money Laundering

John Heller, 73, of Revere

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes

Adam Derebala, 29, of Revere

• Failure to File a Tax Return

Peter Marano, 52, of Boston

• Tax Evasion

Karl Voelker, 67, of Boston

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes

Paritosh Patel, 48, of Reading

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes

Nelson Tejada, 43, of Chelsea

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes

MDGolam Talukder-Manik, 57, of Lynn

(Employee of Richland Convenience Store located at 332 Nahant Road in Nahant)

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes

Ghanshyam Patel, 45, of Malden

(Employee of Robinson’s News Convenience Store located at 1556 Eastern Avenue in Malden)

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes

Muhammad Khan, 52, of Medford

(Employee of Grab N Go located at 367 Washington Ave in Chelsea)

• Conspiracy to Evade Taxes