On Fame & Shame: Handling Sudden Wealth

▼$656 Million Jackpot & Lottery Car Crash Lessons▼ 

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Building on the 'safeguards' theme from the previous two blogs, the process of creating 

this blog alone is itself part of a precautionary measure I am taking having previously, 

well, mismanaged a small lottery win shared with me. It happened a few years ago. 

Now whether we win again or not is irrelevant. This blog all is about  Brad Duke, 

the Butlers above (who I'll be watching) and importantly, the  excerpted sad & 

and somewhat funny stories of people who won the lottery unprepared and, 

in most cases, only got stupider by the day. For them, money was the root 

of evil. From frittering away their winnings with excessive generosity to 

evictions, legal & bankruptcy issues,  shady friends & kin, jail time and 

even deaths, Brad Duke's ilk emerge as the type to learn from. You'll 

find from the predicament of lottery winners turned losers below 

only corroborating themes (from my previous blogs), addiction 

to, and  involvement  with narcotics/trafficking, run-ins with 

the law &  steep fall from grace. Unlike Michael Carroll for 

example who hit a £9.7m jackpot in 2002 & squandered 

it returning to court over 30 times for drugs-related & 

other crimes, Brad Duke invested almost all of what 

he won. Out of the   $85 million lump sum he chose 

from his original  $220 million  Powerball jackpot 

2005  win, he focused the first $80 million on
low-risk & aggressive investments. What I 

most like is,  he knew he'd win & so he 

prepared financially, legally, covering 

all bases. You can read more on the 

story, his interview with  Fortune 

Magazine  & his team of financial 

advisors' work on helping him 

become a "billionaire"  here. 

I'm not a lottery player & 

I don't gamble or judge 

those who do. But if 

 optimism is a force 

multiplier, then I 

say back yours 

up with such 

foresight or 

wind up a 

big loser  

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Charles Riddle: Won $1 million 

(Year: 1975) 

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 “He quickly got divorced, faced several lawsuits and was eventually indicted for selling cocaine.” 

Mark Gardiner: Won £11 million 

(London, 1995) 

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 “Thirteen miserable years later, he hasn’t lost his money, but he has lost all his friends - even the ones he treated to new £100,000 homes – and lost touch with his family.” 

William "Bud" Post: Won   $16.2 million 

(Pennsylvania Lottery, 1998) 

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 “...described the experience as a ‘nightmare’ and wishes it had never happened...he was sued by a former girlfriend eager to get her hands on the cash and his brother hired a hitman in the hope of inheriting the winnings. He invested in ill-fated family businesses and within a year was $1m in debt.  Today he gets by on social security payments. ” 

Willie Hurt: Won   $3.1 million 

(Year: 1989) 

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 “Two years later the money was gone and he was on a murder charge. Hurt spent his fortune on a divorce and crack cocaine. 

  Jack Whittaker (aka, Andrew Jackson): Won  $314.9  million   (click image for details) 

 (Powerball Jackpot, 2002) 

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 This one is probably the most instructive in that as Marvin Jones' Blog chronicles, there was  a good beginning,  bad developments as a result of his new found wealth (and by the way, he was doing just fine prior, financially) that quickly spiraled into  an ugly set of circumstances involving  association with bad people. And finally, having thrown away $114 million in just four years, an    end.  “In August of 2003, while spending over one hundred thousand dollars at the Pink Pony strip club in Cross Lanes West Virginia, thieves stole $545,000 in cash from his car. Two strip club employees were later arrested and charged with drugging Whittaker's drinks and arranging the robbery, however the money was never recovered.” Is meaninglessness or misery in spite of enormous wealth or fortune directly related to hedonism and being tired of pleasure?  You be the judge. But sometimes, you have to hit rock bottom before you start thinking straight and for that, there is no education like firsthand experience. 

  Janite Lee: Won   $18  million 

(Year: 1993) 

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 “Her generosity in giving money to a variety of political, educational and community causes was commendable – but just eight years later she filed for bankruptcy. ” 

Anonymous   Sicilian (and still   unclaimed): Won  £79  million 

(Italian Lottery, 2008) 

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 “Before he or she could even collect the winnings consumer groups were demanding that the windfall be seized by the government. The winner has since gone into hiding, fearing the Mafia will come calling. ” 

David Lee Edwards: Won   $42 million 

(Kentucky Powerball Jackpot, 2001) 

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 Like fellow Kentucky native Whittaker, Edwards' sudden wealth only attracted more problems.
Don McNay of the Times Tribune puts it all in perspective: 
  

About a week after Edwards won the lottery, I watched him on television and predicted that he would run through all the money.  He had every red flag for disaster. Edwards won a $41 million Powerball and took home $27 million in August of 2001. Six years later, the money was apparently gone.   An out-of-work ex-con, Edwards immediately acquired an entourage and went on a buying spree. He was all over the media, and I remember him saying that he was going to meet with financial advisors.  Edwards was evicted from his $1.2 million home in Palm Beach Garden, Fla. for not paying his association dues. Shortly thereafter, Edwards was evicted from a storage unit...His wife was arrested for not paying $17,000 in back child support...released and then arrested again; she missed a court date and failed a drug test. 

You would think someone who won the lottery would get it right. 

It did not happen, and Edwards became another “shake your head” kind of story...Receiving a life-changing amount of money is not a curse as long as the receiver takes steps to keep him or herself under control.  

Most people have built-in controls on their finances. They work for a paycheck and pay their bills. They have a budget based on the steady amount of money coming in.  

 
When people get “sudden money” from an inheritance, lottery or other source, they often do not know how to handle it.  It makes them easy prey to family and friends wanting a “loan” and prey to the temptation to spend their money on unnecessary items.   
 
There is a whole economy built around people who let money run through their fingers...a ton of advertisements aimed at “helping” people spend their tax refunds. 

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