Thieves used a stolen card to buy a winning French lottery ticket worth 500,000 euros or $523,000

ByThe Associated Press

PARIS — Thieves used a stolen card to buy a winning French lottery ticket worth 500,000 euros ($523,000). But they vanished before cashing in —- and now they’re among France’s most famous fugitives.

The man whose card was stolen, identified in police documents as Jean-David E., is offering to split the cash with the lucky winners. He wants his wallet back, too.

The thieves, meanwhile, face the risk of arrest. As of Saturday, the state lottery operator La Française des Jeux, or FDJ, said that no one had submitted the ticket to cash out.

″It’s an incredible story, but it’s all true,″ Jean-David’s lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Jean-David discovered earlier this month that his backpack had been stolen from his car in the southern city of Toulouse, including bank cards and other documents, the lawyer said. Jean-David asked his bank to block the card, and learned it had already been used in a local shop.

At the shop, a vendor told him two apparently homeless men had used one of his cards to buy the winning scratch-off lottery ticket.

“They were so totally happy that they forgot their cigarettes and their belongings and walked out like crazy people,” Debuisson said.

Jean-David filed a police complaint about the theft, but is ready to withdraw it if the thieves come forward so that they can share the money, Debuisson said.

″Without them, no one would have won,″ Jean-David said on public broadcaster France-2.

Prosecutors may try to seize the winnings, considering them illegally obtained gains, the lawyer said.

The lawyer launched a national appeal Thursday asking the perpetrators to contact his office to make a deal.

“You risk nothing … we will share with you,” he said. “And you would be able to change your lives.”

The ticket will eventually expire, he warned.

“Time is working against us,” he said.