Americo Lopes, a construction worker from New Jersey, participated in a lottery pool with five of his fellow construction workers. In 2009, the lottery pool purchased a ticket that ended up winning $38.5 million. Instead of sharing the fortune with the five other lottery pool members, however, Lopes fraudulently claimed the entire prize himself, which amounted to $24 million after he chose the cash option. According to court documents, Lopes then asked off of work for an extended time because of “foot surgery”. The five other coworkers have sued Lopes for their respective shares of the winnings and are expected to be awarded around $2 million each after taxes and attorneys’ fees.
See New Jersey Court Orders Mega Millions Winner to Share Jackpot, CNN, Mar. 15, 2012.
Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this article to my attention.
