this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023

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Winner of $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot in Maine sues mother of his child to keep identity hidden (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave to c/news

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A man who won one of the largest lottery payments in U.S. history has filed a federal lawsuit against the mother of his child in an attempt to keep his identity concealed.

The man won a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot earlier this year after purchasing a lottery ticket at a gas station in Lebanon, Maine. He has sued his child's mother in U.S. District Court in Portland with a complaint that she violated a nondisclosure agreement by "directly or indirectly disclosing protected subject matter" about his winnings, court papers state.

The court papers state that the defendant in the case disclosed the information to the winner's father and stepmother. Both the winner and the defendant in the case are identified only by pseudonyms.

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[–] bruce_willass 114 points 11 months ago (5 children)

I’ve read the famous lottery post enough times to know the major bullet points to follow after winning (not that I’ll ever win, because I don’t play the lottery):

Don’t tell anyone.
Go to your nearest big city and hire a partnered lawyer in trust & estates from one of the big national law firms. Look them up on martindale.com, apparently.
Decide how you want to split your winnings and have your new lawyer handle the distribution.
Yada yada, typical personal finance investing advice (good to follow even without a lottery).
Live off the returns/interests earned.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Bad advice. I'd rather:

Throw away all of the money on drugs and hookers
Die

[–] FlyingSquid 14 points 11 months ago (3 children)

So you'll be taking the smaller lump sum rather than the larger amount paid out in installments?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Am I missing the joke here? You do know the lump sum is always the better option right?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

You are missing the joke here, because if I do (2. Die) then I won't be getting the payment installments

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Not if you want financial security until you die.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Pretty sure the math works out on even dumping the lump in a jumbo savings and giving you better dividends than the lifetime payment plan. You can obviously way outperform that with extremely stable index funds and other safe investments. You do you though

[–] Bbbbbbbbbbb 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Getting a lump sum of $500m will forever alter your life for the better in the same way as receiving it over 30 years. You will have financial security for the rest of your life in either situation. Its better to receive it all in one lump sum and investing a larger portion now for bigger returns later rather than investing a sum yearly for returns you may not ever see

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You will have financial security for the rest of your life in either situation.

You might want to look up what happens to lottery winners and their money.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Are there any reports regarding 9+ figure winnings? Because I've definitely heard and read of 1-2 million dollar winners going broke quite quickly, but a billion dollars is an absolutely monstrous amount of money that I would struggle to spend entirely on purpose.

[–] veroxii 1 points 11 months ago

The resdit post referred to by the top level comment mentions that winners of very large jackpots turn up dead with alarming frequency.

Also the bigger the jackpot the more people get sued, family kidnapped, harassed, etc. A miserable existence apparently.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Yeah, this is the way.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I briefly worked at a convienice store that sold lotto tickets, and people should be aware that the default is the smaller lump sum. The operators have to change a couple things when they get the ticket made.

However most people do a random "quick pick" over filling out the associated forms to select individual numbers, pay out type, etc.

That being said, mathematically if you do win, and take the lump sum and invest it positively, it can out "earn" the staggered payments, resulting in more money.

However, the mathematically inclined rarely play lottery type games, I mean they give you the odds on the ticket.

You're more likely to be hit by lightning on a clear day than winning the jackpot.

But hey, a couple bucks, some wishful thinking, and its cheap entertainment for a short while imagining what to do with the winnings.

I realize the odds are totally stacked against me, but when it gets to 1b I'll buy a ticket, just on the off chance, lol.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

You can do that now, without playing or winning the lottery.

@snaptastic Please notify me if this comment does not satisfy your relevancy requirements.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've heard that hookers are a great investment.

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 11 months ago

Especially when you pair them with blackjack. Then when you make enough money, you can open a theme park.

[–] colorsoloud 28 points 11 months ago

In this case, I assume he was attempting to follow that advice except he had to tell the mother of his child for child support reasons. He did have her sign an NDA, she’s the one who told.

[–] FuglyDuck 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Also maintain physical control of the ticket, maybe consider a bank safety deposit box. And if privacy is a concern create an LLC to claim it under, since many (most) states require public disclosure of who wins (possibly including the news broadcast with a Big Check. If you trust them you’re new best friend- the asset protection lawyer you got referred to by the afore mentioned estate lawyer can claim it on the llc’s behalf.)

[–] FlyingSquid 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That all sounds like sound financial advice.

How many people who play the lottery pay attention to sound financial advice?

[–] ohlaph 5 points 11 months ago

At least one.

[–] ohlaph 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Basically. I'd also change my name, grow my hair and facial hair out ao I'm damn near unrecognizable.

[–] FuglyDuck 7 points 11 months ago

If you trust a lawyer (I’d trust a lawyer with a contract far more than I’d trust family with a million dollar ticket,) you can create an llc and have them claim it on your behalf. The name of the llc is what then gets published.

You can then distribute the winnings out of that LLC into one or more that then holds the cash or, holds the big assets (like a house).

This is particularly useful for inheritances and such like. Because the contents of that llc are secret to only the people managing it in trust and the owner, there’s less ability to fight over it.