'Pajama Billionaire' freed of charges under Lotteries Act

By Racquel Porter

Chavez Allen, who goes by the moniker 'Pajama Billionaire' and who was accused of conducting an illegal car raffle in November 2020, was again freed of the charges when he appeared in the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Court on Friday morning.

Mr. Allen, who was charged with breaching the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act after hosting the raffle, was freed last June, after Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks dismissed the matter for want of prosecution following a request from attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie K.C. for the Crown to either start or dismiss the matter against his client.

But in April, the prosecution re-listed the case citing that they are now able to proceed with mounting a viable case against Mr. Allen.

But Mr. Champagnie in an application Friday, argued that it was not the first time Mr. Allen was being prosecuted for the same offence.

On November 15, 2020, more than 3,000 social media users tuned in to Allen's Instagram live session where the holder of ticket 183 was announced as the winner of a Mercedes Benz CLA-250, valued at $5 million.

Mr. Allen had later indicated that the competition, which started months earlier in June, was a private, in-house raffle for students enrolled in his forex trading classes.

Raffle tickets were sold for US$50 or approximately J$7,500 each.