Viktor Gjonaj thought he had figured out a way to make money. He was a commercial real estate broker and convinced members of his Albanian-American community in Detroit that he had lucrative real estate investment opportunities. He raised over $26 million.
Gjonaj had a promising plan. It involved lottery tickets instead of real estate. Gjonaj diverted his investors’ cash to playing the Michigan Lottery Daily 3 and Daily 4 games.
Maybe he had system that worked. He apparently won millions from the lottery. Unfortunately, it appears that he spent millions more buying the tickets. According to the complaints filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Attorney, Gjonaj was betting $1 million per week on the lottery using the money that was supposed to be put towards real estate investments.
His scheme unraveled. It appears that most of the investor money is gone. He is subject to lawsuits by his investors, an action by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and criminal charges from the US Attorney.
Sources:
- SEC Charges Detroit-Area Businessperson with Fraud for Using Investor Funds to Play Michigan State Lottery
- SEC Complaint
- Real estate executive denies crimes in response to ‘Ponzi-type scheme’ lawsuit; more investors sue
- Michigan Lottery Obsession Brings Hard Fall For Troy Executive, Crain’s Shows
- Feds say real estate exec duped investors out of $19M spent on Michigan lottery
