SC convenience store owner who sold $1.5B lottery ticket arrested for tax evasion: officials
Arrest was unrelated to Mega Millions jackpot ticket sale
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A South Carolina man was arrested for failing to report more than $2 million in sales made at his Simpsonville convenience store, where a billion-dollar lottery ticket was sold in 2018, officials said.
Chirag Jayanti Patel, 49, was charged on Friday with five counts of tax evasion related to allegations he underreported sales at KC Mart from 2013 through 2017, the South Carolina Department of Revenue announced. Patel allegedly never reported $2,044,737 in sales made at the convenience store, and in turn, never paid $123,044 in sales tax.
NORTH CAROLINA MAN WINS $2 MILLION MEGA MILLIONS PRIZE AFTER HITTING DEER WITH NEW CAR
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000 per count if convicted.
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Patel's store sold the $1.537 billion Mega Millions ticket in October 2018, after which his business was given a $50,000 bonus for selling the prize-winning slip, according to reports from the time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}According to the Greenville News, the winner was a South Carolina woman who stopped by the convenience store while in Simpsonville from out of town. She was paid a lump-sum amount of $877.78 million, the report states.