back to article Bankrupt Aussie Hells Angel scoops £750k lottery jackpot

A bankrupt and imprisoned Australian Hells Angel has somehow won a million-dollar lottery ticket. Reginald "Reg" Roberts scooped the AU$1.33m (£749,996) jackpot despite having been remanded in custody thanks to police allegations that he is linked to a plot to illegally import 313kg of crystal meth to South Oz. In addition, …

  1. tony2heads
    WTF?

    Police are said to have flagged the win as suspicious.

    Do they mean that the Hells Angels run the lottery is Australia??

    1. Fungus Bob

      Re: Police are said to have flagged the win as suspicious.

      Someone has to...

  2. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    "Buying" a ticket is a classic money laundry method.

    I remember the days when the lottery tickets (especially the mid-tier ones, as they attracted less attention) fetched up to 4x their winnings in Eastern Europe and Russia. AFAIK the "use case" is quite prevalent in other countries like Spain, Italy, etc as well.

    1. JC_
      Stop

      If I had a winning ticket, I'm not sure I'd sell it to someone for four-times its face-value. The kind of person who'd offer to buy it is the same kind of person who'd hit me over the head, sooner or later, and just take back their money.

      1. Anonymous Coward Silver badge
        Paris Hilton

        Sound like if you're concerned that they would do that after giving you money, you should be concerned that they'll do so anyway once you have money... so you might as well take their money and have some fun in the meantime.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Money laundering

      As per Voland's Right Hand:

      Seconded, bar staff years ago in unnamed ex-communist country years ago skimmed off the state owned enterprises and would buy lottery tickets to avoid being rumbled.

    3. Arty Effem

      "Buying" a ticket is a classic money laundry method.

      The winning value of any ticket is checkable, so how can it be used to explain acquisition of a larger sum?

      1. DropBear

        Re: "Buying" a ticket is a classic money laundry method.

        You have an honest winning ticket for $1000, con man offer to give you $4000 for it. You get more $$$$, he gets to keep $1000 of clean money and regards the rest of $3000 he paid you as the cost of laundering an illicitly gained $4000 into a clean $1000.

        1. Tom 7

          Re: "Buying" a ticket is a classic money laundry method.

          Or you could put $4000 into a London bank and have a clean $4000.

          1. phuzz Silver badge

            Re: "Buying" a ticket is a classic money laundry method.

            Or you could put $4000 into a London bank and have a clean $4000.

            I'm not sure why you got a downvote for this, apart from assuming that a bank wouldn't charge as many fees as possible on any transaction. For what it's worth HSBC were charging approximately 20% to launder money.

            Of course, HSBC got caught and got fined $1.9 billion, which sounds harsh, until you realise that all charges were dropped in exchange for just five weeks worth of profits. Too big to fail and too big to jail.

    4. MonkeyCee

      Gambling winnings

      "AFAIK the "use case" is quite prevalent in other countries like Spain, Italy, etc as well."

      It's pretty much the entire use case of FOBT too. Feed in cash, get 80% of it back as legitimate winnings.

      1. onefang
        Holmes

        Re: Gambling winnings

        You really should define acronyms like that. I had to look "FOBT" up. I guess you didn't mean "Faecal Occult Blood Test", but "Fixed Odds Betting Terminal", though I could be wrong. I've programmed computers for pathology labs, and gambling machines, and I'd not heard either term before. I guess you could "feed in cash" to someone, extract it again during a Faecal Occult Blood Test, and 20% losses sounds about right, but I wouldn't be calling that "clean" or "laundered" money.

        As Sherlock says, you'll be wanting no shit.

        1. Jedit Silver badge

          "I guess you didn't mean Faecal Occult Blood Test"

          Not much difference between one of those and a fixed odds betting terminal. They're both full of shit and involve bleeding the unfortunate.

      2. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Gambling winnings

        "It's pretty much the entire use case of FOBT too. Feed in cash, get 80% of it back as legitimate winnings."

        Which explains why people get highly territorial about such machines.

    5. david 12 Silver badge

      Back in the day, before cash transaction reporting, you could buy a "system" ticket that covered a LOT of numbers (for proportionate cost). So people would buy $4000 lottery tickets, in the expectation of winning around $3000 back.

      Then as now, everyone knew it was money laundering.

    6. Alan Brown Silver badge

      "I remember the days when"

      Last week?

  3. ma1010
    Paris Hilton

    Huh?

    In 2015 Roberts was ordered to pay the Australian tax office AU$1.5m

    Interesting. He must have had a very lucrative income from somewhere, probably not (overtly, anyhow) drug related in order to get a tax bill like that. Pretty good wages for a "bikie."

    1. Aladdin Sane

      Re: Huh?

      That's how they got Capone.

    2. Frank Bitterlich

      Re: Huh?

      The "tax" bill comes from a separate scam somehow involving diesel fuel rebate (tax rebate?) that he was cought running some time ago.

      Weird series of coincidences, anyway.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Huh?

        Quite impressed that the Hell's Angles manage to run these complex tax scams. I'm picturing the back of a biker bar with a group of accountants in leather jackets, patches and green eye-shades.

        1. onefang

          Re: Huh?

          "Quite impressed that the Hell's Angles manage to run these complex tax scams."

          People from all walks of life join these sorts of groups. So yes, that includes accountants, stock brokers, bankers, lawyers, computer programmers, police, judges, etc.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Thumb Up

            Re: Huh?

            Very true. If I'm going to be hanging out at a bar, it'll be one of theirs going back to 1980. A disproportionate number of them are fellow veterans, they are all technologically literate and extensively use computers. That last dates back to when they formed ABATE, their lobbying against strict helmet laws. Lots to talk about and I like the company.

            1. ravenviz Silver badge
              Gimp

              Re: Huh?

              Ha, and there was I thinking that Hell's Angels just drink beer and have axe throwing competitions.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Huh?

          "Hell's Angles"

          You mean from below?

  4. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

    Tautology?

    a plot to illegally import 313kg of crystal meth to South Oz.

    I'm no expert in international trade regulations, but is there actually a legal way to import 313kg of crystal meth anywhere?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Tautology?

      It's a sad indictment of chemistry education in S Australia if they have to import crystal meth

      1. Aladdin Sane

        Re: Tautology?

        Diplomatic bag?

        1. onefang

          Re: Tautology?

          For 313kg, your gonna need a bloody big bag, and something a bit bigger than a motorcycle to help carry it. Though considering I have towed a fully furnished mobile home behind my motorcycle once, I guess you could stick it in one of those bike trailers.

          1. JC_
            Boffin

            Re: Tautology?

            I've gotta ask: what was the bike and how did the mobile home brake?

            I can see a Goldwing getting even a decent sized trailer moving, but getting it to stop quicker than the Queen Mary would be the fun part.

            1. thegroucho

              Re: Tautology?

              There was a Goldwing with a folding trailer - to act as breakdown rescue to make sure motorways are flowing.

              Now for the life of me I can't say if it ever got deployment or was only used as a prototype.

              https://thekneeslider.com/goldwing-retriever/

              1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

                Re: Tautology?

                "Now for the life of me I can't say if it ever got deployment or was only used as a prototype.

                https://thekneeslider.com/goldwing-retriever/"

                There are at least a couple that patrol the A1 trunk road around the Newcastle

                are of NE England. I' assume that means there are many more around.

                IIRC they are BMW, not Honda and the towing trailer unit is a marvel of

                engineering and origami, folding back up when not in use so it looks more

                like a large backrest for the rider.

              2. onefang

                Re: Tautology?

                "There was a Goldwing with a folding trailer - to act as breakdown rescue to make sure motorways are flowing."

                That reminds me of the day I saw a big road bike driving past, with a small kids sized motorbike strapped to it. Not sure if that was an emergency bike in case the big one broke down, or it was being delivered somewhere.

            2. onefang

              Re: Tautology?

              It was a very long time ago, early '80s, and to be honest, now that you ask me, I can't recall if it was my 250 CC dirt bike (Yamaha or Honda, I had a slightly bigger road bike at the time, one of each brand, not sure which was which) or my mates 750 (Honda I think). He had the power, but I had the traction, I've climbed up near vertical rock walls on it. It wasn't towed very far, just had to be moved several meters to the left, and no one had a car handy. It was the oversized caravan type mobile home. Wasn't moving fast enough to get enough momentum going to overcome friction when we cut it loose, it just ground to a stop fairly quickly.

              Back to towing 313 kg of meth in a diplomatic bag, I have no idea how much space that occupies, so may need something bigger than a bike trailer. How big do they make diplomatic bags?

              1. Mark 85

                Re: Tautology?

                How big do they make diplomatic bags?

                "bag" is just a name like "pouch" for diplomatic stuff. It can be a box all the way up to a truckload or more.

      2. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Tautology?

        "a sad indictment of chemistry"

        Not so much that, but that the Norks were (and are) selling it dirt cheap compared with the hassle of making it locally (and the risks of someone noticing the purchases of ingredients)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Tautology?

      ...but is there actually a legal way to import 313kg of crystal meth anywhere?

      While there might be questions asked for 313kg of crystal meth, I'm pretty sure most pharmaceutical companies can obtain permits to import/export quantities of illegal substances for research and/or other legitimate purposes.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Tautology?

      Sure, just declare it and pay the import duty.... but do it under the name of an elected public official.

  5. AS1
    Joke

    Tax office scam?

    Let's get the circumstances right here:

    1. Reg owes the tax office 1M5

    2. Reg declares bankruptcy, so TO gets nil.

    3. TO arranges for Reg to buy a ticket in jail.

    4. TO ensures Reg scoops the win.

    5. TO clears out Reg's bank account.

    6. New duck houses all round.

  6. DROP DATABASE

    There is no god.

  7. Jonathan Richards 1
    Paris Hilton

    > That reminds me of the day I saw a big road bike driving past, with a small kids sized motorbike strapped to it.

    You thought you did. But what you actually saw was the mating dance of the Greater Touring Motorcycle (Enfieldus triumphans), in which the smaller male mounts ... Ooops, NSFW, sorry.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like