An appeals court has upheld the conviction of a convenience store clerk for bilking a customer out of a $5 million scratch-off lottery ticket, but it cut the defendant’s sentence to the level recommended by prosecutors.

The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, panel reduced the prison term for Andy Ashkar from 8 1/3 to 25 years to 5 to 15 years in People v. Ashkar, 15-00008.