Troy real estate broker sentenced for gambling scheme that cost investors $23 million

Real estate investor accused of taking money from others and playing the lottery

A real estate agent faces 20 years imprisonment for allegedly cheating millions of investors and spending them on the lottery.

DETROIT – A man who was dependent on the Michigan Lottery was sentenced Wednesday to more than four years in prison for a scheme that cost investors more than $ 23 million.

Viktor Gjonaj from Troy told people that he was putting their money into real estate deals. Instead, he played the Daily 3 and Daily 4 games – more than $ 1 million a week through 2019.

Gjonaj believed he had found a guaranteed way to win big jackpots according to his consent form.

Instead, Gjonaj “ended with nothing more than a federal crime conviction,” defense attorney Steve Fishman said in a court record.

Gjonaj, a real estate agent, started a fake title company and directed investors to transfer money to a bank account, investigators said.

US District Judge Linda Parker sentenced him to 53 months in federal prison.

TIED TOGETHER: Feds burden real estate agents with millions of dollars from gambling investors

Fishman, who had searched for 30 months, said Gjonaj confessed to the FBI before agents even knew there was a scam.

He called it an “extraordinary assumption of responsibility”.