Powerball winner: thieves cleaned me out

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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:36 pm

How does anyone manage to blow through 113 million?

Quote:

Fri Jan 12, 11:35 AM ET

A man beset by problems since winning a record lottery jackpot says he can't pay a settlement to a casino worker because thieves cleaned out his bank accounts.

Powerball winner Jack Whittaker gave that explanation in a note last fall to a lawyer for Kitti French, who accused him of assaulting her at the Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center, a slots-only casino near Charleston, according to a motion French's lawyer filed this week demanding payment of the confidential settlement.

Whittaker won a nearly $315 million on Christmas 2002, then the largest undivided lottery prize in U.S. history. He took his winnings in a lump sum of $113 million after taxes.

Since then, he has faced his granddaughter's death by drug overdose; he has been sued for bouncing checks at Atlantic City, N.J., casinos; he has been ordered to undergo rehab after being arrested on drunken driving charges; his vehicles and business have been burglarized; and he has been sued by the father of an 18-year-old boy, a friend of his granddaughter's, who was found dead in Whittaker's house.

In the latest lawsuit, Whittaker told French's lawyer, John Barrett, that "a team of crooks" cashed checks in September at 12 City National Bank branches and "got all my money," according to the motion Barrett filed Wednesday in state court.

"I intend to pay but can't without any money," Whittaker wrote, according to the motion.

An official with City National Bank said Friday the bank is investigating "small discrepancies" in Whittaker's accounts.

Calls to Whittaker and his lawyers Friday were not immediately returned.

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:52 pm

Why would you go anywhere near a casino after winning that much? Isn't $113 million enough? What a fool.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

I know that in the U.S. there is a fairly well worn trail littered with the sob stories of lottery winners. It seems that many people (and their families) are not equipped to become instant multi-millionaires. After you buy the cars/boats, take the vacations, and pay off, I mean, help out your relatives, there's still a lot left -- and now that you've quit your job, there really isn't enough to do to fill your time -- so you hit casinos, strip bars -- maybe start a drug habit. Throw in the hundreds of people/organizations trying to get a piece of your pie, and before you know it -- you're poor again. Confused

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:24 pm

^^^ I've never heard it stated quite that concisely.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 80

I swear, with all the bad luck lottery winners have, why not just send it to one of the lads in Nigeria and let them have all the bad luck.

What's the most stupid thing about it, is that they could have played it safe, invested it in bonds, and live off the interest.

Let's say a paltry 3% return (not to be unexpected if the entire winnings were placed in a high-yield checking account) - in one year:

116,390,000.00

in a bond, say, 5%

118,650,000.00

in 5 years, compounded:

144,219,816.56

and in ten?

184,065,092.83

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:36 pm

JMRazor wrote:

... sob stories of lottery winners. ...

That's international. A study showed that 99% of all >1mill$ lottery winners are *worse* off a year after their win that they were before.

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:44 pm

That proves money does not bring happiness. Wink

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:48 pm

A lot of people have no clue about how to make money work for them. They get a cheque for, say $10million and proceed to spend it. It may seem like a huge amount of money (which it is) but with some determined effort you could blow $10mil on a very nice house, a few cars, bling, a racehorse, etc very easily and quickly. It doesn't seem to occur to them that if they invest that $10mil in a reasonably 'safe' investment fund the interest alone would keep them in considerable comfort for the rest of their lives and then onto the next generation (who WILL blow it Very Happy

)

I'm not surprised at how many lottery winners end up on a binge at the casino. They are obviously gamblers by nature or they wouldn't buy lottery tix in the first place.

Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:51 pm

^^^^ "Fast woman, slow horses"! Laughing

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:22 am

Recalling a couple of much earlier news stories on the same gent, he seemed a bit over-generous with handing out large hunks of millions to family, neighbors and friends, and he had a tendency to flash his newfound cash around town. Literally. He had a reputation for carrying huge wads of cash on his person. He was carrying more than $100,000 in cash when he was arrested for DUI. Another time, he reported more than half a million stolen from his SUV. In that incident, he was possibly drugged while the robbery took place. (http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2004/12/man-with-too-much-money-jack-whittaker.html)

He had kind of a brassy, larger than life sort of personality, and he seemed determined to give a lot of his money away in all the post-win interviews. He promptly plonked $14 million into a charitable foundation in his name. He gave $3 million to area churches.

That kind of money not only causes the sorts of "what do I do with all this money, whoops, that was easy" problems others mentioned, it makes you something of a target for anyone and everyone who thinks they can make a quick buck off of you. He pretty much had "take my money, please" on his forehead.

The man was dealing with some major stressors, too. An 18-year-old friend of his granddaughter's died of a drug overdose on his property, and three crooks robbed the house around the kid's corpse. Several lawsuits and possible criminal charges, both against him and against people who may have robbed him. Substance abuse and recovery. The death of his granddaughter. The way her body was found, dumped like trash. Her boyfriend apparently did the dumping after she accidentally overdosed.

I can kind of see how he just might be distracted enough to be vulnerable to having his accounts cleaned out by thieves. What he hadn't already spent/given away/lost to theft, at least. I guess in retrospect, the only wonder is that it took that long.

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:30 am

The problem is that people who are investment savvy, can crunch numbers, can compute the future value of an annuity, have patience or common sense don't play the lottery in the first place.

That's why they call the lottery the IDIOT TAX.

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 7:32 am

DrBillBlaze wrote:

That's why they call the lottery the IDIOT TAX.

That's true but people DO win - but I still wonder what I'd actually do if $100mill suddenly dropped into my lap. It's all very well trotting out the cliches but if it actually happened, what would I do? I need to give this some urgent thought because there's $50mill waiting for me in a bank vault in Lagos as I type.........

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:16 pm

DrBillBlaze wrote:

... That's why they call the lottery the IDIOT TAX.

As far as I know, that was coined by Descartes. When discussing taxes, someone said that the only thing that a government could not put a tax on was the human mind. Descartes contradicted saying there was a tax on stupidity: the lottery.

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:42 pm

Quote:

"I spent lots of money on alcohol, women and fast cars. The rest I just blew.�

George Best, RIP.

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:19 pm

Lotteries, according to my former math prof, is a statistics course for those that are bad at math. The odds are always against you, but when someone does get lucky, it's usually the guy that works the dead end job that wants to spend lavishly on everything they've ever dreamt of, thus depleting the money and forgetting about depositing it in a bank or something like that. Now, for me, I would spend ~$20 mil to go into space, and then place the rest in my bank account for it to appreciate over time, but I hardly ever buy a lottery ticket, so what are the chances Very Happy

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:58 pm

I never buy lottery tickets. I figure that way I save a few dollars, and my odds of winning are only about 1 in 52,000,000 less.

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:31 pm

I buy a lottery ticket because, let's face it, I'm a sap! Although I buy a lottery ticket once in a blue moon, I do it because a few friends are doing it, and I think, why not? The most I've won in a lottery is $5, and that's because I got something like 3 of the 7 numbers right...

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:07 pm

Krona wrote:

I never buy lottery tickets. I figure that way I save a few dollars,

well you would, if you actually put it in da piggy bank

my ticket is 5� a week, thats about as much as I don't spend on smoke and drink. It wouldn't and up in a Bank anyways so what the heck.

If I win anything above the cost for the next ticket, I'd invest 50% and blow the other half immediately. Just to anticipate that I might drop dead a week or so later.

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:11 pm

Standard Procedure wrote:

I buy a lottery ticket because, let's face it, I'm a sap! ...

There's a huge difference between buying a ticket and having a little hope and actually counting the money in advance and making plans about what to do with the winnings.

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:15 pm

When the Powerball jackpot reaches $150 million, my dad and I each get one and joke with each other about how we're going to spend the money, and not give each other any. We buy it now just as a tradition. To me, that something special with my dad is worth the $1 every couple months.

Of course, the way I play I'll never, ever win.

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:01 pm

Quote:

thieves cleaned out his bank accounts

I think the real thieves got to him before he even banked it..

Quote:

won a nearly $315 million on Christmas 2002, then the largest undivided lottery prize in U.S. history. He took his winnings in a lump sum of $113 million after taxes.

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:25 pm

Dirteh Sanchez wrote:

I think the real thieves got to him before he even banked it..

so true

at least overe here the winning is tax free
mind you, it's 39% tax on the ticket.
This way the government winns every time Rolling Eyes

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:03 pm

So he lost $202 million before even picking the cheque up??????????

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:26 pm

I do buy a lottery ticket from time to time - investing only small sums (about 5 to 10 USD). In my country the winnings are smaller and there is a special team of the lottery company that advises the winners what to do with their money, so most people end up buying houses for every kid they have and put a fund for their university in the future - and most of them do not quit their jobs!

But people do win, so there is a chance - not like the 419 scams. I once won a trip to Italy, all paid by the lottery company. That was very nice vacation in Rome. Smile

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:38 am

fengibbon wrote:

So he lost $202 million before ...

The government sets up an annuity for about half the face value of the win. This annuity pays the winner in installments. When they cash out, its for about half. Then taxes are paid on the lump sum.

Most "winners" either take the lump sum, or sign over the annuity payments to a third party in exchange for the lump sum. That's the way they end up beyond broke. Most file for bankruptcy and have ruined their credit as well as their family life.

I only play for two reasons. One is when the prize is greater than $52 million and I only play the numbers beyond 31 so that I will not have to split the prize, and the second reason is when I have a co-worker who checks the previous nights lotto in the morning paper. That's when I pick out the previous nights winners. Gives the co-worker a nice cardiovascular workout.

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