That Long Island guy who decided to pay off the two mortgages on his $1 million McMansion by selling raffle tickets for his house at $50 a pop, and then burned all the suckers buyers by not holding the raffle at all and allegedly keeping the money? He's caught the attention of the Nassau county DA, who says 16,000 chumps people bought tickets from homeowner John Luongo. Or, as he puts it, they actually bought "portraits" of his five bedroom, 4 bathroom Massapequa home (painted "by a local artist") and received, as an added bonus, a "free" raffle ticket. But it looks like it was all scam!!! Last week Luongo posted this announcement on his From Raffles to Riches website:
Do to the miscommunication from certain media outlets and our misunderstanding of certain laws we are now completely cancelling the raffle. To receive your 98% refund (as stated on this site since it's inception) please return your purchased portrait(s) to 17 Linoln Place, Massapequa, NY, 11758. We are sorry we could not fulfill the dream we set out to and thank you for your patronage.
Some shocked and outraged idiots raffle contestants say they're still waiting for their refunds, and DA Kathleen Rice is asking them to contact her office. "Whether a crime has been committed is still under investigation, but we need as much information as possible before we can make that determination," Rice said in a statement. "If you purchased a ticket for this raffle, your information could prove invaluable." But surely these people know better than to trust the government with their information?
