An Ontario woman who claimed a $12.5 million jackpot three years ago disputes claims by the provincial ombudsman that her win is suspicious, a probe by the CBC's The Fifth Estate has found.
"I'm living my life. I'm happy," said Kathleen Chung of Oakville. When asked about allegations that she won the Super 7 prize under false pretenses, she responded, "That's not true and I don't want to discuss this anymore."
Ontario's ombudsman André Marin has identified Chung's case as suspicious. He said the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation shouldn't have paid out the prize.
"They knew they had been lied to. That's how obvious it was." Marin said. "She lied about her status as the sister of the manager of a retail store."
When Chung first spoke to lottery officials, she said the winning ticket belonged to her brother, Marin told The Fifth Estate in an interview to be aired at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night. She then said she bought the ticket, but said she couldn't recall where she had purchased it.
Chung also didn't mention that her father and brother worked at the store where the ticket was validated. Chung's family said she fudged her story about who owned the ticket for family privacy and security reasons.
The OLGC said Chung's win is being investigated by the Ontario Provincial Police.
In the fall of 2006, The Fifth Estate conducted an investigation that found a disproportionate number of lottery retailers had won large prizes in the previous seven years.
The report sparked a public uproar surrounding the lottery corporation. More alleged cases of fraud came to light in the media, with store clerks accused of fraudulently claiming millions of dollars in prizes.
Marin investigated the claims and said the lottery corporation was "too cozy" with its retailers and paid out $100 million to "lottery insiders" from 1999 to 2006.
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