Metro

Dad in lotto scam is banned

SYRACUSE — A convenience store owner who admitted helping his son cheat a man out of a $5 million lottery win has been sentenced to a conditional discharge and banned from ever selling lottery tickets.

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports that Onondaga County Court Judge Joseph Fahey sentenced 56-year-old Nayef Ashkar on Wednesday to a three-year conditional discharge. Ashkar admitted helping his son Andy Ashkar try to take a customer’s $5 million ticket by giving a false affidavit to the state lottery office.

Andy Ashkar was sentenced in July to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison for stealing the ticket. His brother Nayel Ashkar was acquitted of conspiracy.

The $5 million went to rightful owner Robert Miles of Syracuse.