You Win Some, You Lose Some: Lottery Winners Who Lost Everything

You Can’t Trust Anyone

Lots of people pool their money in the hopes that it will increase their chances at winning big in the lotto. But when Americo Lopes and five of his co-workers won $38.5 million dollars, Lopes got greedy.

The unsuspecting coworkers gave Lopes their pooled money and trusted him to buy the tickets. Lopes did buy the tickets but when he realized the group had won, he didn’t say a word. To make matters worse, he silently collected the winnings (a cool $17.4 million after taxes) and quit his job claiming he had a foot injury. It wasn’t long before the men found out and brought Lopes to court where he was eventually ordered to split the winnings equally amongst his ex-coworkers.