By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A former property manager who claimed his addiction to the lottery made him steal $2.3 million from Downtown property owners was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison on Tuesday.
Richard Bassik, 67, the proprietor of Downtown Properties Inc. said he stole from the owners of the 19 buildings he managed by taking advantage of access he had to their accounts, prosecutors said.
The properties owned by the victims "ranged from high-end co-ops and condos to a building owned by a nonprofit organization," according to the Manhattan DA.
Bassik admitted he stole to pay his bills, take vacations and feed his gambling addiction which amounted to daily, obsessive lottery play, his lawyer said.
“[Bassik] stole his clients’ money to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that included trips to the Caribbean and visits to the Ritz Carlton hotel,” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said after Bassik's guilty plea in September.
When offered the chance to speak at his sentencing Tuesday, Bassik declined.
