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Whose Money Is It? Fight Over Lottery Jackpot Goes To Court In NJ

March 7, 2012 7:47 PM
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Mega Millions (CBS 2)

Mega Millions (CBS 2)

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ELIZABETH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Six New Jersey co-workers pooled their resources on a Mega-Millions lottery ticket, when one of them claimed a huge jackpot, the others got mad and got lawyers.

Americo Lopes refused to speak with CBS 2′s Dave Carlin outside of the Elizabeth courthouse, where he is on trial for fraud.

Five former friends and construction company co-workers want Lopes to fork over $4-million dollars after taxes for each of them. The men claim that the $24-million jackpot belongs to all of them, they say that the tickets were bought for the entire group.

Lopes’ attorney argues that Lopes also bought a personal ticket — the winning ticket.

One member of the group, Candido Silva Sr., came to tears on the witness stand. Silva told the court that the group shared an “all for one and one for all mentality” and agreed that the winnings would be shared.

“I’d never think he’d do what he did,” said Silva.

The massive jackpot came on November 10, 2009. Shortly after that Lopes took a four-month leave for foot surgery. When he returned he quit on the spot and confirmed that he was a now a millionaire.

Initially Lopes’ co-workers were happy for him, that is until one of them looked up the day that he won. It was a day that had each contributed two-dollars for lottery tickets.

Lopes’ attorney Michael Mezzaca told the jury that just because his client was secretive about his winnings, it does not necessarily make him guilty.

Lopes currently lives with his wife in a modest house with a cluttered backyard. It remains unclear if he has done anything with his fortune.

The trial will focus on how the lottery pool was organized. The defense maintains that no one even bothered to ask Lopes for a copy of the ticket.

What do you think should happen with the money? Let us know in our comments section below…

View Comments
  • HillClimber

    This won’t address much of the problem, other than to say that in a group where I belonged, one persons did hold all of the tickets. However, every participant got a photocopy of all of the tickets purchased. When the winnings n any drawing were small, we bought extra tickets on the next draw plus the regular contribution.
    It worked well for us, and I don’t recall any problem ever.

  • Funkdawg

    Another good reason NOT to play with groups of coworker’s!!

  • Gary S

    If it was a group ticket, everyone should have a copy of the tickets that were purchased for the group. If not I have to go with the defendant. It may be he lied but when you buy lottery tickets in groups, you as a group need to figure out a way to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen. If the group made no effort to record the tickets purchased all I can say is oh well.

  • Wyla

    If they don’t have a copy of the ACTUAL winning ticket as being one they ALL bought, good luck getting anything. THEY, not him, will have to prove the winning ticket was one they ALL bought or they won’t get a dime. Sad but true.

    • They will win

      Not true they can prove they were in a pool .He has to prove that he bought other tickets.Does not help he was so sneaky.But many times this happens and almost all end up getting something if not all.

  • tommy

    He should not of gone back, take the money and run…..

    • sb

      “have” not “of”…you can’t “of” something OR you may write it as “should’ve”

  • norfolk n clue

    i’ll give them a share of my lottery winnings with a glass of shut the hell up.

  • Fricsaid

    Assuming this was a group bought ticket, this guy is a POS for doing this. All the money in he world won’t help him sleep at night. God, I’m glad I don’t have a love of money.

  • sizziline

    I think they all should share the winning its only fare !

    • crystalangel336

      fair………not fare

      • JuJu_Bee

        Well excuuuuuse us Ms. Merriam Webster. Some people apparently are not as bright as you are. It must make you feel so special to know how to spell. I guess you didn’t have a tiny little thought in your head about actually contributing a post that has something to do with the article??

        • Your Big Daddy

          if you cant even spell you cant have a legit contribution anyway, because your stupid. So thank you for not forcing us to read mis-spelled garbage and as someone up top states have a nice tall glass of shut the hell up.

          • Not from NJ

            *you’re

            …just saying.

          • jr

            you’re

          • Grammarian

            Okay… I’m a proofreader with an English degree. Don’t throw stones if you, yourself, can’t manage to use appropriate spelling and grammar. Here’s a re-do of your less than stellar post:

            If you CAN’T even spell, , you CAN’T have a legit contribution anyway, because YOU’RE stupid. So thank you for not forcing us to read MISSPELLED garbage. And as someone up top states, “Have a nice, tall glass of shut the hell up.”

            If you’re going to criticize someone else for not being able to spell, it’s a good idea to be sure that your spelling AND grammar are fine-tuned so that you, yourself, are not committing similar errors. Yeesh.

            • nada U

              U

        • TLC

          Attn Hate Americans. You can go home now and leave our great country alone. You are a Looser….

          • Rhiannyn

            *Loser….”loose” means the opposite of tight.

    • Chinook

      Nope. They don’t get a share. I wouldn’t go in a pool without a copy of the ticket prior to the draw. They were stupid to trust thier friend. Money champions all friendships.

      • Fricsaid

        “They were stupid to trust thier friend.”

        A friend that cannot be trusted, is not a true friend.

  • Cindy Maddy

    All the judge needs to do is obtain a transaction log of the machine that sold the “winning” ticket. If that winning ticket was among a “group” of tickets (numbering 12), then he is guilty. If it falls outside that group, he’s free and clear. Simple as that. If the former turns out to be the case, the guy doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Even if he bought “13″ tickets, and just picked one from the group before the drawing… he tampered with the intended purpose of the ‘pool’.

    • Cindy Maddy

      And by “numbering 12″, I mean what-ever combination of 12 may be present in close chronological order. Granted, some locations do rapid ticket sales. But there is a distinct pattern of timestamps if an employee keys in for say 12 single tickets (the entries would have nearly identicle differences in “generated” timestamps) , and then an individual ticket (or vise/versus). Hopefully you get my point…. You can tell by the log files if a series of tickets was purchased “in a group”.

      • Joan

        This person gave the best answer. Makes sense and would get to the bottom of it. The ticket holder should go along with investigating the ticket sale like this if he truly is honest.

      • Linann

        Some pools buy tickets at diffrent location.

        • Jesse

          When I did a pool, 85 people put 5 bucks in. I bought the tickets at different locations and different days as I bought starting Sunday and everyday till Wednesday night. However, I did not buy any personal ones to avoid this type of stuff in case we had won.

  • Barbara J

    I think he should do right thing, give them what they deserve. The ole saying is “money is the rule of all evil”. People change when they get money, but although they don’t have proof the judge still should award them their portion.

    • Kate

      Money is the *root* of all evil.

      • Kim

        “the love of money is the root of all evil” money is not evil, greed is

      • Sanderson

        The “LOVE” of money is the …….

  • Just Sayin’

    He could of easily avoided this if he would of told his “personal” ticket numbers to the group before the drawing, then they would know he was being honest. I would have to say from the way he handled this, he is lying and I would love to see all the money taken away from him. That is rotten.

    • Vic

      When we buy tickets as a group, I always make copies of the tickets for everyone who put money in. That way everyone knows the numbers and there is no question about it because we all buy personal tickets also.

      • kevinb

        if he did not provide copies of the pool tickets, most likely he will lose, because there is no way to prove that the ticket was not intended to be part of the pool. judging by his behavior I think he full well knows that he owes his coworkers a share. just too greedy.in the end after court costs he will end up with much less than if he had just done the right thing to begin with

        • LusciousDC

          If they NEVER required a copy of the tickets in the past, that won’t fly. It was business as usual for this group. I agree with Cindy Maddy..pull the machine records.

  • Scott

    I would think there might be some sort of retaliation against this sc$mbag. I hope he gets enough life insurance for his family to survive.

  • Sailor Boy

    Unless there is something in writing, whoever presents the winning ticket is entitled to the proceeds, regardless what or when was previously understood between the participants, but i think he should split it with the others, cheaper than paying out to lawyers, etc, just common sense.

    • not a lawyer…thank god

      Wrong. Does not have to be in writing.

  • Sailor Boy

    yall all going to hell for gambling, /just kidding/

  • Raymond Velazquez

    This human garbage should pool all his winnings with that white trash from Michigan who won a cool mil. and is still bleeding the gov’t for food stamps.
    And donate all the money to the homeless.

    • Sailor Boy

      ill drink to that

    • jane dough

      the MI lady technically is not working so unfortunatey, she is entitled to unemployment – they don’t give unemployment by looking at assets

      • Me

        Actually they just discontinued her food stamps.

      • Missy

        They are not talking about unemployment they are talking about food stamps. She should not be getting food stamps. After she won all that money.

  • steve

    Listen if all those tickets (12 tickets if each gave 2 bucks each) were purchased at once…it will be recorded at the lottery machine where ever it was bought.
    If 1 of those 12 tickets has the winning number and Lopes collected 2 dollars from each of the peeps….it looks to me that they are entitled to split the money. Now if that winning ticket was bought somewhere else I can see Lopes point BUT I have a funny feeling he is telling a big fat lie and hoping “along with his lawyer who will get paid anyway” the jury will believe his sorry ass .
    Did anyone mention get photocopies?? LOL

  • FOOLS

    Lopes should NOT have to share anything….if it is true that he bought a separate ticket of his own money….Each pool ticket would have the exact same store location, time of purchase and same date……

    On the other case Lopes personally bought ticket should NOT have the same info above…if it does then is part of the pool….simple as that…..

    • steve

      Your exactly right

    • Think for a Minute

      I’d also add that if they purchased $12 worth of tickets, it would give you 2 tickets with 6 rows each. Lopes’ personal ticket wouldn’t fit on either of the group tickets. That will tell you if the winner was the pool ticket or the personal one.

  • Tracey

    This guy is a vile snake. Never do business with him either. He cannot be trusted. So sick of the greedy.

  • M.A.D

    TOTAL IDIOT.. NOW THE LAWER IS GETTING THE MONEY. HE SHOULD HAVE DIVIDED THE TICKET, INSTEAD HE IS GOING TO COURT AND WASTING THE MONEY ON NONSENSE.

  • Tony

    The money should be split evenly among the six who played. Even though no copies were given, they trusted the man. Word to the wise: always get a copy, no matter what

    • LusciousDC

      No, they shouldn’t if the winning ticket wasn’t part of the 12. They didn’t require copies before, so they just may be assed out if they can’t PROVE the winning ticket was part for their 12. Go to the tickets and the machine. I know that if I were in the situation and was telling the truth; I wouldn’t give up my money either.

  • Bob

    you absolutely do not buy a separate ticket when you are in a pool. Any tickets bought should be for the pool.

    • Blasterific

      Umm you can buy your own ticket. The pool tickets should be photocopied and handed out. If your ticket wins its yours, if the pool tickets win everyone wins.

  • TEXAS

    Rule #1: GET PHOTOCOPIES OF ALL TICKETS PURCHASED.
    Rule #2: GET PHOTOCOPIES OF ALL TICKETS PURCHASED!!!!

    • Texas

      Rule#3: INHALE MY BUTT-VAPOR.

    • GoldenGun

      Rule #3 we don’t talk about bean club!!!

  • Maureen

    The winnings should be split evenly. Then Americo Lopes should pay all attorney’s fees.

  • Nyc

    Greed..SMH.. It wouldn’t last

  • Sue the Bargain Hunter

    This is why every office lottery ticket pool I’ve ever seen photocopies / distributes copies of the tickets to everyone in the pool before the number is called.

    • Jean

      They are very organized in my office. One person makes a list of all those who contributed to the pool, another goes to buy the tickets and a third makes copies of the tickets and distributes them before the end of the day (before the numbers are drawn) Everyone has proof so something like this never happens. Money changes people and this just protects everyone. We’re not talking about $10 or $20 here. The more money that’s involved, the more you should protect yourself

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