31 July 2023 , 21:59
437
0
A woman has been forced to give her $1.3 million lottery jackpot win to her husband as part of a divorce row.
Denise Rossi, from California, had filed for divorce from her husband Thomas Rossi after 25 years of marriage, 11 days after winning big on a US lottery game. Denise had scooped the $1.3million bounty before opting to keep her prize a secret from her soon-to-be ex.
Thomas discovered her win years after their 1996 divorce when he received a letter from a company that paid lump sum transitions for lottery winnings. Addressed to his ex-wife Denise, it stated they had “helped hundreds of lottery winners like you around the country receive a lump-sum payment for the present value of their future annual lottery payments”.
The court went on to hear how Denise had the original cheque sent to her mother's address. Explaining the close proximity of the win and the divorce at the time, Denise claimed she had "wanted to get out of this relationship for years".
Denise had won big on the US lottery just days before filing for divorce (AFP via Getty Images)However, Thomas claimed he was "blindsided" and "confused", telling PEOPLE in 2004 how: "She wanted me to move out of the house very fast. It wasn’t like her to act this way.”.
'I'm spending £20k on a new bathroom - but won't help my brother out with cash'
The ex-husband secured an injunction a few days after discovering the incriminating letter and took Denise to court, where a judge ruled she had violated laws disclosure of assets and funds and acted in fraud or malice. Denise, then 49, was ordered to pay her ex-husband, then 65, 20 annual instalments of $66,800, amounting to the value of her entire win, writes news.com.au.
Denise’s lawyer, Connolly Oyler, said she may been able to hold onto the winnings had she been honest about them. He said: "I could have argued successfully that it was her separate property,” Mr Oyler told reporters at the time. Or we could have argued and we would have reached some adjustment. But the judge got mad and gave it all to him."
Recently, reports of another unrelated lottery drama emerged when a life-changing $12.5million lottery ticket stolen by a dad and daughter from a relative's store changed the game's rules forever.
Jun-Chul Chung, 71, and his daughter Kathleen, 39, were jailed in 2003 after the pair took part in a scheme to steal the lottery jackpot from his brother Kenneth's shop, Variety Plus in Burlington, Canada.
The Toronto dad was sentenced to seven years while his daughter was jailed for four. They were also fined $3.5million for the scam which saw them take a winning ticket and claim it as their own.
Kenneth, who was running the convenience store at the time, let his dad in charge of validating the lottery tickets when he realised he was in possession of a winning ticket.
After double-checking the numbers, Jun-Chul Chung stole it and gave the real winner, Daniel Campbell, some losing tickets instead - denying him the opportunity to become a multi-millionaire.
Despite eventually being awarded the prize, the father and daughter were eventually caught and jailed. Canadian police investigated 355 wins in 2008 and filed 14 charges, with four found guilty of unfair tactics, and it led to the change of the lottery forever in Canada.
The agency made it illegal to layers to purchase tickets from a family member's store, and following a lengthy investigation, in 2011, the real winner Daniel Campbell was given his rightful jackpot.