The family of a Mega Millions winner has filed a lawsuit claiming that their relative broke a promise to share a $1.35 billion jackpot.
The winner, who has not been identified, earned a newfound billionaire status after buying a lottery ticket at Hometown Gas & Grill in Lebanon, Maine, on January 13 last year.
"Congratulations to the Maine State Lottery, which has just won its first-ever Mega Millions jackpot," Pat McDonald, Ohio lottery director and lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement, per CBS News.
According to The Independent, the man chose to remain anonymous and receive his prize through a limited liability company, LaKoma Island Investments LLC. He will get a one-time lump-sum payment of $723,564,144 before taxes.
However, since November, the lucky winner has been in a legal battle with the mother of his daughter, claiming that the woman violated a non-disclosure agreement by disclosing the nature of his winnings to the rest of his family before their daughter’s 18th birthday in 2032, per The Independent.
The mom, only identified in court documents as the pseudonym Sara Smith, has now alleged that he was the one to tell his relatives about the recent success, not her.
The man’s dad has seconded this, insisting that his son not only told them about his billions but also bragged of all the things he intended to do with the money.
“[In] February or March of 2023, my son came to my house… and informed me and my wife that he won a large amount of money in the Maine State Lottery,” his father wrote in the court documents, per The New York Post.
“I understand that my son has stated that he told me nothing about his money ‘other than the simple fact that I had won,’” the dad continued. “That is not true.”
The father claimed that he didn’t ask for any money and that his son promised to treat him and his stepmother to a whole host of gifts including building a garage to fix up old cars, purchasing his childhood home, and funding future medical expenses for his dad and stepmom.
The man also allegedly instructed his father to cut ties with Smith, even though she’s his granddaughter’s mother.
This did not sit well with his dad, who said he told him: “You are not the son I knew," which prompted the man to “get angry” and call his dad a “dictator” and an “a**hole,” per the filing.
“I have not heard from my son since, and he has not done any of [the] things he promised," the father added.
However, the lottery winner claims to remember things differently.
“I made the mistake of telling my father that I had won the lottery without having him sign a confidentiality agreement,” he wrote in his own court filings. “Our relationship deteriorated quickly thereafter.
“I did not tell him what I was doing with my money, how I was going to benefit my daughter, or any facts other than the simple fact that I had won," he added.
The man also accused Smith of trying to disclose his identity to the world and said she accused him of trying to kidnap their daughter after he wouldn’t pay for her and her boyfriend's vacation.
