Politics & Government

DA: Arrest in House Raffle Scam

North Babylon man charged with fraud.

A man who allegedly sold more than $100,000 in raffle tickets to win his waterfront home but spent the proceeds on vacations was arrested Thursday, authorities said.

Scott Cicerone, 32, of North Babylon, has been charged with Scheme to Defraud in the first degree and 21 misdemeanor counts of Petit Larceny.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Cicerone bought the house on Lincoln Place in 2004, for $566,500. They took out a $1 million loan with plans to make renovations and resell the property.

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But when they put the house up for sale for $1.6 million, they weren't able to find a buyer. Foreclosure proceedings on the home began in June 2008.

In August 2009, prosecutors said Cicerone  and his partner decided to hold the raffle, offering 30,000 tickets at $50 apiece, with a drawing scheduled to be held on Dec. 15, 2009. Cicerone advertised that the winner would own the property lien free, without mentioning the foreclosure proceedings and the $1 million lien on the property, prosecutors said.

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He also promised a 95 percent refund if the 30,000 tickets weren't sold.  The drawing date was then pushed to March 20, 2010. A month later he cancelled the raffle and promised the a refund, prosecutors said.

More than 100 ticket buyers complained to the DA's office and an investigation revealed that Cicerone had received more than $100,000 from the raffle and deposited it into a private bank account, prosecutors said.  He allegedly used the cash to pay for airline tickets and hotel stays in Las Vegas, Miami, Atlantic City, California, and Oregon, as well as car rentals and payments on his Mercedes Benz.

Investigators found no criminality on the part of Cicerone's business partner, and he has not been charged, a spokesman for the DA said.

Only a few ticket holders got refunds, according to prosecutors. A call to Cicerone's lawyer was not immediately returned.


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