After studying law for a few years, he knew very well that he shouldn't deceive his representing lawyer.

"You wanted to embezzle the first prize by claiming a wrong number was entered?"

"Were the winning tickets from several previous occasions all in your possession? Did you claim the prizes yourself?"

"Did you also manually delete the surveillance footage for that day?"

"And now the first prize has already been redeemed by your wife's brother?"

Zhang Wei looked shocked after hearing all this.

He hadn't expected... his junior from law school to have committed so many illegal acts.

No wonder their law professor had once said... the deeper one studies law, the more likely one is to become scum.

Because these people constantly study the law, they understand its loopholes better than ordinary people.

For instance, Chen Ping had taken advantage of legal gaps and ambiguities in the lottery industry. This meant his act of printing the wrong ticket numbers didn't carry legal responsibility. Even if the victim called the police, it would be useless.

However... Chen Ping seemed to have only learned things by halves, completely overlooking the prosecutor's office's role in gathering evidence once a lawsuit is filed.

What a careless mistake.

Strictly speaking, without evidence gathered by the prosecutor's office, relying only on the evidence and cross-examination in a civil suit, Chen Ping would indeed have been in an unassailable position.

"Senior, I had no choice. Seven million yuan... I just got greedy..." Chen Ping said with a bitter laugh.

He tried to justify himself, "You don't understand. The lottery shop isn't very profitable, you know. It only brings in six or seven thousand a month, far less than what you make with your law firm."

"Many lottery players prefer to buy online. Some who come to the shop don't like waiting in line if it's crowded, so they just leave their numbers with me and ask me to print the tickets."

"Normally, I'd never touch that money. But if they don't take their tickets with them, you can't really blame me, can you..."

Typical victim-blaming. Zhang Wei frowned slightly, feeling somewhat disgusted by Chen Ping's reasoning.

Nevertheless, he objectively analyzed, "The situation is quite difficult now. You're implicated in multiple criminal charges."

"First, since the other party paid for the lottery tickets, they rightfully belong to them. Even if they didn't take the tickets, as the shop owner, you have a duty to safeguard them. Using them without permission or refusing to return them constitutes embezzlement."

"You could be charged with embezzlement."

"Article 270 of the Criminal Law defines embezzlement as the act of illegally appropriating, for one's own possession, valuable property entrusted to one's care, forgotten items, or buried valuables, and refusing to return them. Even if the owner had forgotten about the ticket, unauthorized use, illegal possession, and refusal to return it all fall under the definition of this crime."

"Regarding sentencing, if the sum involved is considerable and the property is not returned, the penalty is up to two years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, or a fine. If the amount is vast or there are other serious circumstances, the punishment ranges from two to five years of fixed-term imprisonment, along with a fine."

An amount of seven million yuan definitely falls under the latter, with more severe penalties. The maximum would be five years.

"Secondly, your wife's brother has already redeemed the lottery ticket. By falsely claiming to be the actual owner and appropriating the other person's property, he may have committed bill fraud."

"The criminal law stipulates that knowingly cashing in a ticket that has been altered, forged, or is otherwise illicit, to obtain assets from the relevant authorities, constitutes bill fraud."

"In terms of sentencing, because this act infringes upon another's property rights and deceives financial or lottery institutions, it is treated very seriously."

"If the sum is significant, the sentence is up to five years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention, plus a fine of twenty thousand to two hundred thousand yuan."

"If the amount is vast or there are other serious circumstances, the sentence ranges from five to ten years of fixed-term imprisonment, with a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand yuan."

"For an exceptionally vast sum or other particularly severe circumstances, the punishment is ten years to life imprisonment, plus a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred thousand yuan, or confiscation of property."

The maximum penalty could be life imprisonment!

"And according to judicial supplementary interpretations, an amount over one million yuan is considered 'an exceptionally vast sum'."

"More than ten years?" After hearing this, Chen Ping's face turned deathly pale.

Life is so short, just a few decades. Ten years deducted just like that... he'd be completely ruined by the time he got out! And all the consequences—being blacklisted as untrustworthy, a criminal record, and failing political background checks—would follow him for life. These consequences... he couldn't bear them!

"So... Senior, from a professional standpoint, what do you think I should do now?" Chen Ping hurriedly clutched Zhang Wei's arm, seeking his advice.

Zhang Wei couldn't help but look smug as he took a sip of tea.

He said leisurely, "You came to the right person."

"In Jin City, when it comes to sentence reduction, if I say I'm number two, no one would dare claim to be number one."

Chen Ping swallowed hard, nodding repeatedly in agreement.

"You're implicated in embezzlement and bill fraud. The principle of concurrent sentencing for multiple offenses applies here, not the principle of punishing only the most serious crime."

Zhang Wei then continued his serious analysis.

"The principle of punishing only the most serious crime requires the use of the absorption principle in sentencing. For example, if I were committing theft and the homeowner resisted, and in the ensuing panic, I killed them. This act involves two offenses: theft and intentional homicide. However, comparing the two, intentional homicide clearly carries a longer sentence and a more severe penalty. Therefore, the sentence for theft would be absorbed by the sentence for intentional homicide and could be disregarded. The case would then be judged based on intentional homicide; that's what it means to punish only the most serious crime."

"But in this case... the embezzlement occurred first, followed by the bill fraud. These are distinct acts, so the principle of concurrent sentencing for multiple offenses applies."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.