# Dumbest Lottery Winners of All Time

An episode of [Be Amazed](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1687637469), 29 Sep 2025, 27 min.

Audio: https://audio4.redcircle.com/episodes/2f213902-9c9f-4668-a0a3-a09dbc994f6d/stream.mp3

From those who excessively splurged their cash on the finer things, to those whose fraudulent and immoral schemes saw their millions melt away... Stay tuned, cause coming up are some of the dumbest lottery winners of all time! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Ever find yourself clockwatching at your nine to five, dreaming what it might be like to win big on the lottery?
[0:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, hard to believe, but the grass isn't always greener on the lotto winner side.
[0:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to quote Shakespeare, Mo Money, Mo Problems, and coming up with some recklessly rich lottery winners who certainly agree.
[0:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: From those who excessively splurged their cash on the finer things to those who's fragile and a moral scheme saw their millions melt away.
[0:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Stay tuned, because coming up are some of the dumbest lottery winners of all time.
[0:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They say the trust is the foundation of any relationship, and without it, you have nothing.
[0:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While this exact sentiment became a literal reality for our first lot of winter, as her deceit left her penniless.
[1:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was nineteen ninety-six in Denise and Thomas Rossi had been seemingly happily married for the last twenty-five years.
[1:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However much to Thomas' surprise one day Denise suddenly wanted a divorce.
[1:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And while perhaps Thomas is snoring her untitonist might have been a contributing factor like other failed marriages, there was a vital piece of information Thomas didn't know that it set their marriage on the rocks.
[1:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Just eleven days before filing for divorce, Denise and her pals pulled together in one six point six million dollars on the California State Lottery, with Denise secretly pocketing one point three million dollars.
[1:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It seems plausible to imagine that Denise was already unhappy in her marriage and thus saw her winnings as an escape route.
[1:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Whatever the case, the divorce was finalized and Thomas was left none the wiser on his now ex-wife's winnings the entire time.
[1:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But here's the crux.
[2:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When finalizing a divorce, both parties are legally required to declare their financial position as to determine Alehmoni payments.
[2:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Having just become a millionaire Denise knew that if she declared it, she'd have to share a portion of it with Thomas, so she just didn't declare it.
[2:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No biggie, right?
[2:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, two years after the divorce Thomas, who was still in their marital home received a letter addressed to Denise regarding her lottery weddings.
[2:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What lottery weddings he initially thought, but before long the proverbial penny dropped and the pair were back battling it out in court.
[2:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Ultimately, the court found Denise guilty of fraud and declared Thomas as being entitled to the fools of her winnings.
[2:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Ouch.
[2:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Mega-ouch.
[2:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It may seem like a harsh punishment, but let this be a lesson folks.
[2:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Honesty is always the best policy.
[2:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Or just make sure to change out your mailing addresses after your big lottery win?
[2:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Back in two thousand five Oregon woman, Christina Goodin now won one million dollars on a scratch card lottery ticket.
[3:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But strangely, this didn't trigger the big celebration you might imagine.
[3:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As a matter of fact, there was something rather shady a foot.
[3:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Seek Christina didn't want anyone finding out about her when, so much so she specifically requested that lottery officials keep it on the download.
[3:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Meanwhile, though the local police department were tracking down suspicious activity on the credit card of a woman who passed away a year prior.
[3:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This ultimately led them to Christina, who had turned out had actually been using her then boyfriend's dead mom's credit card to buy things, including her winning lot of ticket.
[3:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Technically, making it a dead woman's winnings.
[3:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In her reckless swiping of the credit card Christina had incurred twelve thousand dollars of debt which she attempted to pay off with her lottery winnings.
[3:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But a last, despite now having plenty of money, her fraudulent credit card usage led the police right to her, and Christina was charged accordingly with forgery and theft.
[4:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And while Christina insisted that she'd used her own cash to buy the ticket, she was stripped of her winnings which were given to the local police department.
[4:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She was also sentenced to a month behind bars and given two years of probation.
[4:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hopefully, during Christina's short time in the slam, her police had least spent some of her winnings on a few nice things dispersed to place up.
[4:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He ever been so close to something you could almost taste it?
[4:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That is metaphorically.
[4:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It can be so crushing.
[4:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But just imagine winning twenty six million dollars and having it yanked from beneath you.
[4:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In twenty twenty one, a US woman who remains anonymous won the aforementioned twenty six million dollars on the lottery.
[4:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was an incredible stroke of luck, and fact for perspective, you're two hundred and fifty times more likely to be crushed by a meteor than you are to win the lottery.
[5:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Anyway, the winning ticket was unfortunately where this anonymous woman's luck ended, as she accidentally put her winning ticket in the washing machine.
[5:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Ultimately, after a full cycle, the woman's fortune became nothing but a squishy, crumpled, eligible piece of paper.
[5:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In her desperation, she returned to the store where she'd bought the ticket from and requested surveillance footage that would show her buying the wedding ticket.
[5:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But unfortunately, it wasn't enough for the lottery company to grant her winnings.
[5:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: According to them, the only way to cash in a lost or destroyed ticket would be by having a picture of it front and back.
[5:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Ah, I can almost feel this poor woman's pain.
[5:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'd let this be a reminder that nothing good has ever come of doing laundry.
[5:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As we've mentioned, statistically winning the big-time lottery is virtually impossible with Jackpot odds coming in somewhere between one and one hundred seventy million and one in two hundred and ninety two million depending on what lottery you play.
[6:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, one woman defied all statistics when she won the lottery not once, but twice.
[6:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It was October, nineteen eighty five in regular Lotto Lover.
[6:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Evelyn Adams from New Jersey won an astonishing three point nine million dollars.
[6:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But even with enough cash for a lifetime, she continued playing the lottery and just four months later scooped an additional one point four million.
[6:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Evelyn was now sitting on five point three million dollars.
[6:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, this massive fortune wouldn't last long.
[6:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Evelyn was initially responsible for opting for annual payments of two hundred and eighteen thousand dollars rather than the lump sum.
[6:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She invested in her daughter's education as well as businesses such as her own music store, but ultimately these ventures failed and her money began to dwindle.
[7:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not only that, but she was very generous in her donation to friends and family, some of which were merely loans that were never repaid as people took advantage of Evelyn's wealth.
[7:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What certainly didn't help, though, was that Evelyn couldn't seem to curb the habit that it'd gotten her the money in the first place, gambling.
[7:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Over time, Evelyn became a regular and Atlantic city's casinos, ultimately betting away her very last time, and by twenty-twelfth she had nothing.
[7:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's a much reported on what happened next, though, news outlets claim she now lives in a trailer park.
[7:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And fact, the recent picture of Evelyn seems to show her in some kind of food service work uniform, not looking particularly happy.
[7:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And in all honesty, having won the lottery twice and still lost it all, who can blame her for not being full of smiles.
[7:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You might think you can trust the people in your life, but when it comes to money, trust no one.
[8:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Something our next lotto winner learned the hard way.
[8:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Back in twenty ten, Jose and Tony Oakwood talk went to the local store on his bosses behalf and decided to buy himself a lottery ticket.
[8:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Important note, with his own money.
[8:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This lottery to get turned out to be worth seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
[8:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Naturally Jose was overcome with excitement, but he quickly realized there was a slight issue.
[8:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He was an illegal immigrant to the USA from Guatemala.
[8:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Fearing the declaring his lottery win would lead to questions and thus his deportation, he put his trust in his boss, Eric Servantes, to cash the check.
[8:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As sort of a quid pro quo, the pair decided that they would share the winnings.
[8:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But as Eric publicly cashed in the check, he was overcome with greed and refused to give Jose his share.
[8:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Jose was furious and eventually decided to lure her up.
[8:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The case went to trial and just in the nick of time, the store where Jose had purchased the ticket came forward and provided surveillance footage of him doing so.
[9:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With Jose proven to be the rightful recipient, he was awarded the full sum of money, though the media attention this attracted left him at risk of deportation.
[9:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While there have been no public updates regarding whether Jose was ultimately deported, the worst part is all this could have been avoided.
[9:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Turns out, Georgia law doesn't require lottery winners to prove their citizenship to claim their price.
[9:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A quick Google search and housing would have known this without getting his balls involved and subsequently risking losing it all and being deported.
[9:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's all just further proof that bosses really are the worst.
[9:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Three hundred and fourteen million dollars is a lot of money.
[9:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In fact, with the USA's average life expectancy of seventy-six years, that's enough cash for a person to spend eleven thousand three hundred and nineteen dollars every day of their life.
[10:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, one West Virginian man Jack Whitaker chumped through that sum in just four years after winning the lottery in two thousand two.
[10:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: How?
[10:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, his first mistake was that he had a habit of keeping large amounts of cash in a suitcase in his car, and I mean large amounts, five hundred and forty-five thousand dollars cash to be precise.
[10:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Needless to say, this quickly caught the attention of burglars who broke in and stole it.
[10:29] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that was just one break in.
[10:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: More cash was stolen in similar circumstances.
[10:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When asked why he'd keep his cash in his car, Jack cockly retorted, because I can.
[10:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Pretty shocked in how this guy's now in a dump of lottery winners, right?
[10:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But to his merit, he was also extremely charitable, and not just a burglars.
[10:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: He reportedly pledged ten percent of his fortune to various Christian charities and even built a multi-million dollar church in West Virginia.
[10:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not to mention creating his own charity, the Jack Whitaker Foundation, which provided food and clothing to low-income families.
[11:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Heck, he was so generous, sir, arguably ridiculous, that he once drove his Lamborghini through his neighborhood throwing cash out to strangers.
[11:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That isn't a say, though, that he didn't indulge in the cash himself.
[11:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While he initially claimed that the money wouldn't change him, the reality is that just a week later, he would blow fifty thousand dollars in one night's festivities.
[11:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, I guess you could justify that as charity.
[11:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: His most troubling habit though would be gambling, and addiction's so severe that it's reported one casino sued him after gambling one and a half million dollars that he couldn't actually afford to pay.
[11:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so within four years of winning the cash, Jack was Pennyless.
[11:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the meantime, Jack's marriage had broken down and several other family members had fallen into the trap of all the tragic excesses extreme sudden wealth could bring.
[12:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: By the time the money was all gone, Jack was quoted as saying he wished he'd torn the ticket up.
[12:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: To make matters worse, his house burned down in twenty sixteen long after his money had dried up.
[12:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: His increasingly tragic story came to an end in twenty twenty when he passed away from an unspecified illness, though he is now immortalized as a cautionary lottery tale if ever there was one.
[12:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Money as we've seen often comes hand in hand with greed, ultimately putting people's relationships to trial.
[12:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And when Roger and Lara Griffiths won the UK lottery back in two thousand five, they were soon left broken several definitions of the word.
[12:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The couple married in nineteen ninety seven and were seemingly content.
[12:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Things began to change though in two thousand five when they struck one point eight three million pounds on the lottery.
[12:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They probably indulged in an hundred thousand pound house, a twenty-eight thousand pound Porsche Carrera, and a twenty-four thousand pound Lexus four by four.
[13:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it's clear to see that they quickly developed a taste for the finer things in life.
[13:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These purchases alone had jumped up nearly half their fortune, and that's not counting cash splashed on tattoos, cosmetic surgery, and lavish designer shopping sprees.
[13:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Their fortune continued to dwindle through flashy vacations to Dubai, New York, Rome, London, and Monaco, where they'd reside in the most luxurious five-star hotels.
[13:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But of course their expensive taste came at a cost, and it was a bitter one, considering that by twenty thirteen it wasn't just their finances in ruin, but their marriage too.
[13:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So who's to blame?
[13:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well according to Lara it was Roger in his reckless spending which catalyzed their decline.
[13:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What with him pumping money into becoming a rock star?
[13:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Apparently he spent around twenty-five thousand pounds on reforming his old college man for a self-funded recording project.
[14:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A pipe dream which proved unsuccessful considering the band's first single released in two thousand six, didn't sold only six hundred copies.
[14:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Roger, on the other hand, points the finger in Lara.
[14:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For their marriage falling apart, claiming she, quote, liked handbags and spent a lot of time at Louis Vuitton.
[14:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now I know marriage castler, but I'd say it sounds like these two were both as bad as each other.
[14:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Either way, they were soon left with nothing but divorce papers, and by twenty thirteen, Roger was broke and living alone in a tiny cottage with he claimed, only seven pounds to his name.
[14:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While the ex couple may not have made the wisest investments, can we blame them for spending?
[14:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: After all, is it so wrong to fully live the lifestyle unlocked by a sudden influx of money like that?
[14:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, if it comes at the cost of your marriage, then maybe.
[14:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As my late uncle Ben once said, with great power comes great responsibility.
[14:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Though it seems lottery winner Michael Carroll from Norfolk, England didn't quite get the memo when he splurks his nine point seven million pound fortune on complete and utter mayhem.
[15:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Michael had a bit of a sketchy childhood and was known to be something of a local menace.
[15:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So much so, at just age thirteen, he was sent to Hallsley Bay Prison for shoplifting.
[15:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: By two thousand two, he was working a steady job as a garbage man, but little did he know, however, that he would soon be trading in Piling Trash for stacking cash.
[15:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: At just age nineteen, a very lucky win left him sitting on a lottery fortune of nine point seven million pounds, or eleven point six million dollars.
[15:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: though this would dwindle into nothing at an almost impressively rapid rate.
[15:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So what exactly did Michael spend his millions on?
[15:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well initially he indulged in a three hundred and twenty-five thousand pound mansion near a lake where he could enjoy fishing.
[15:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But beyond that calm, placid-saming purchase, things soon descended into sheer chaos.
[16:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Michael has estimated that in the space of a few years he spent three hundred thousand pounds on parties, and two hundred and thirty thousand pounds on adult refreshments for set parties.
[16:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A further four hundred thousand pounds was spent on luxury cars that he would race and subsequently give the demolition derby treatment in his backyard.
[16:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Three million pounds would cover the cost of various other indulgences such as jewelry and investing in the Ranger's football club.
[16:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But worst of all, we're his costly daily breakfast.
[16:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No toast eggs are bacon, but instead a habit of the Colombian variety that reportedly cost him two thousand pounds a day.
[16:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: To top it all off, Michael likes to fill his day with important business meetings with women of the world's friendliest profession.
[16:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Professional huggers, let's say.
[16:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In fact, he claims to have met with four thousand professional huggers in just ten years.
[17:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Now that's networking.
[17:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite all this lavish personal expenditure though, Michael claims that more than fifty percent of his winnings were spent on friends and family.
[17:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not surprisingly, Michael's millions soon dwindled, and just four years after winning the BBC reported that he was headed towards bankruptcy.
[17:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: By twenty ten, Michael was desperately looking to raise funds by selling his beat up mansion, but having been wrecked by his parties and cars tearing up the yard, the house struggled to sell.
[17:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, if those poor walls could talk.
[17:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Finally, by twenty thirteen, the former big shot had splurged every last penny, bringing his chaotic misadventure to a bankrupt end.
[17:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Shockingly, even though he now finds himself back to doing manual labor jobs to pay the bills, he said he has absolutely no regrets.
[17:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: According to Michael, it was the best decade of his life.
[17:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And you know what?
[17:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As much as burning away all that money is incredibly dumb, I kind of have to respect his honesty and commitment to having a good time.
[18:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But as we'll soon see a lottery wins, successes don't always have such an upbeat ending.
[18:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: According to the Social Security Administration, some sixty-five million Americans were relying on welfare in twenty-twenty-one.
[18:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a great system to help those in need of it.
[18:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, from time to time, the system has taken advantage of, even it seems, by millionaires.
[18:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let me explain.
[18:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Back in two thousand eleven, Amanda Clayton was a struggling single mom relying on welfare, but the tide was about to change when she won one million dollars on the lottery.
[18:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Only even in the face of such a windfall, Amanda was overcome with greed.
[18:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, every month, she continued to collect her food checks worth two hundred dollars.
[18:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In her defense, Amanda claimed that because she was still technically unemployed, she was entitled to the welfare.
[18:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But what she failed to realize is that welfare is based on income and not necessarily employment status.
[19:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Sure enough, her fraudulent doings were eventually uncovered resulting in her arrest and a nine month probation.
[19:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not just that, but she was also ordered to pay back five thousand five hundred dollars that she'd illegitimately claimed in the form of food and medical assistance.
[19:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Wrong doings aside though, Amanda's tale ended in tragedy.
[19:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Just one year after her win Amanda sadly passed away at twenty-five years old, another victim of some of the vices that some large amounts of money can often make people susceptible to.
[19:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a sad story, and a more serious reminder that winning the lottery isn't something to be taken lightly.
[19:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: No matter what stories like Michael Carroll's might seem to imply.
[19:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Between his mother passing away young and his father putting him in an orphanage at eight years old, Bud Post from Pennsylvania didn't exactly have the best start in life.
[19:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In adulthood, he would go between jobs, including working as a cook and even truck driving for a traveling circus.
[20:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But it's already very life was about to get a whole lot crazier in a teenage-eight when he won sixteen point two million dollars on the lottery.
[20:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, just two dollars and forty-six cents to his name beforehand, it seemed like this was Bud's big break.
[20:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, it would only bring on more hardship.
[20:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well to begin with, but just wasn't all that smart.
[20:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: His winnings were in the form of a repeated annual payment of five hundred thousand dollars.
[20:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Within two weeks, he'd already spent two thirds of his first year's payment on a restaurant, a plane, and a used car lock to name but a few items.
[20:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's reported that just three months into his win he was somehow five hundred thousand dollars in debt.
[20:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Thankfully, these debts could be settled when he received the next year's payments.
[20:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But the same pattern of debts began to emerge each year, each time worse than the last.
[20:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not just that, but a little further down the line buds on again off again girlfriend and carpet claim that she was entitled to have over the fortune.
[21:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You see back when he was dirt broke, but it pondering for forty dollars.
[21:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With that money he'd ask him to go buy forty lottery tickets.
[21:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: One of those forty was the big winner.
[21:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and according to her, they agreed to split the weddings.
[21:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: While Bud denied this, the court ultimately awarded Anna third of his weddings.
[21:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If that wasn't enough, Bud's life was also in danger.
[21:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What was his estranged brother hiring an individual with a very peculiar set of skills, too?
[21:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's say, take Bud out of the picture, hoping to inherit his money in the process.
[21:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Fortunately for Bud, the attempt failed.
[21:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite all the setbacks, but still found time to indulge in cars, a boat, and property.
[21:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, by the late nineties, he was facing yet another legal battle, this time forgetting into a rather unpleasant altercation with a dead collector.
[21:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: By this point, Bud was on to his sixth wife, a number which eventually grew to seven, with each divorce taking another huge chunk of his assets with it.
[22:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: After his dead collector-related legal battle but found himself with a six to twenty four month prison sentence which he refused.
[22:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: A bold strategy for sure but not necessarily a smart one.
[22:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Eventually after six years of avoidance he was arrested on a two hundred and sixty thousand dollar sale
[22:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: By the time a sentence was served, Bud was completely broke, reportedly living off four hundred and fifty dollars a month disability check, not the mansion over a million dollars in debt.
[22:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We have to fill a little sorry for the guy, after all he went through it sounds like a very expensive therapy bill.
[22:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Just the thought of being a millionaire might be enough to make most people's mouth water.
[22:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But sixty-five-year-old Marble Wilson was a lot calmer and more measured than most when she pocketed at tasty two million dollars in two thousand eight.
[23:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: With a Missouri grandmother actually planned to use some of the money to put her granddaughter through college and allow herself just thirty thousand dollars a year to spend.
[23:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But little did she know she would become the victim of an elaborate scam which would dittle her out of four hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
[23:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It all began in two thousand ten when Marva crossed paths with free appearance and unemployed single mom relying on welfare.
[23:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: As gamers so often do free-up your kind and personable, and she and Marva quickly became good friends.
[23:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But Freya had an ulterior motive.
[23:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She began convincing Marva to withdraw funds from her lottery winnings and donate them to her non-profit charity, recidivism at work.
[23:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Freya built up a picture of the charity as providing support to prevent at-risk young folks with criminal records from reoffending and helping them find work.
[23:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: When he hears the thing, the charity was nothing but a front.
[23:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And the money?
[23:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That was just lining Freya's pockets.
[24:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But with the unfortunate naivety of a good-hearted and generous older soul, Marvel blindly agreed to donate to recidivism at work, and all and all was swindled out of four hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
[24:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Having fooled Marvel, Fraya would begin indulging in gambling, traveling, expensive cars, and designer clothes.
[24:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Eventually, though, this escapade left Marvel Bankrupt and has financial authorities unraveled the paper trail for you, was caught.
[24:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In twenty seventeen, she was sentenced to five years jail time with no parole, charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion.
[24:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: The scariest part is that she's probably been let loose now and ironically, I fear there may be some recidivism.
[24:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's estimated that the human brain doesn't fully develop until around age twenty-five.
[24:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And as we saw with Michael Carroll winning the lottery is just a teen can have disastrous outcomes.
[24:56] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, the year was two thousand three and sixteen-year-old Callie Rogers became the lucky winner of one point eight million pounds.
[25:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like many a lot of winners she assured she wouldn't go out and spend loads.
[25:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Predictably though, this didn't exactly turn out to be true.
[25:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In the next few years, she reportedly splurged three hundred thousand pounds on designer clothes, splashed out on endless lavish parties, at the donations to friends, family, and romantic partners, plus thousands on cosmetic surgeries.
[25:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Cali was having fun, some might even say a little too much, seeing as she was reported as being broke by two thousand nine.
[25:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This quick rise and fall left her living back with her mom, taking on cleaning jobs just to make ends meet.
[25:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Similar to other Lotto winners though, Kelly claims to be much happier without the money.
[25:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What with it causing her severe anxiety and leading her to many of those same biases lottery winners often encounter.
[25:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: However, since losing it all, she has an exactly state out of trouble.
[25:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Despite now being a mother of four training to work in social care, in twenty twenty she was given a twenty two month driving ban as a result of driving while in a let's just say less than suitable state of mind.
[26:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: During her arrest, she was said to be irate and even attempted to break out of her cuffs.
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Not such a smart move.
[26:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But considering how she lost her millionaire status through unchecked reckless extravagance, it was a fairly end character move all the same.
[26:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Thanks for listening to the podcast, we'll see you again next time you'll want to be amazed.

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