A Georgia man who invested his $3 million (€2.72m) lottery winnings into a thriving crystal meth business is facing an unexpected return: decades behind bars.
The man, Ronnie Music jnr (45) scooped up the multimillion dollar top prize in the state's instant "100X the Money" game in February 2015. He bought the scratch-off ticket from a delicatessen in his hometown, Waycross, in southeast Georgia.
"I buy tickets every once in a while," Music said in a Georgia Lottery statement at the time. "I couldn't believe it, and I still don't believe it yet." But in the months that followed, reality set in.
Music, a maintenance supervisor at the time, told state lottery authorities he and his wife planned to save a portion of the money. Instead, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday, he invested in a methamphetamine business, working with other suspects to distribute the drug in Ware County, where Waycross is located, and in other areas.
The case broke open late last year when Music’s partners in the drug ring were caught trying to sell about 11 pounds of crystal meth, which had a street value of about $500,000, the US attorney’s office said in the statement.
An investigation eventually identified the supplier as Music, who had purchased the drugs for resale using his lottery winnings as part of a wider operation that involved more than $1 million worth of methamphetamine, firearms, ammunition, vehicles and more than $600,000 in cash, the statement said.
Music's lawyer, Ron Harrison, could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. Music, a former convicted felon, pleaded guilty last week in district court to the federal drug trafficking and firearm charges, the statement said. The statement, reported on Tuesday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other local media, said that the maximum possible sentence was life in prison, but that sentencing would take place after further investigations.
Music "decided to test his luck by sinking millions of dollars of lottery winnings into the purchase and sale of crystal meth," Edward J Tarver, the US attorney, said.
While it was not immediately clear how much he earned altogether from his business, Music passed on some safer, legal investments. For example, he could have made a return of about 5.67 per cent, or about $170,000, if he had invested the $3 million in a fund tracking the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock market index.
“As a result of his unsound investment strategy, Music now faces decades in a federal prison,” Mr Tarver said.
New York Times