A man who won one of the largest lottery payments in U.S. history has filed a lawsuit against the mother of his child for informing family of his recently acquired fortune.
CBS News reports that he won a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot earlier this year after purchasing a lottery ticket at a gas station in Lebanon, Maine.
In an attempt to keep his identity concealed, he sued his child’s mother in U.S. District Court in Portland with a complaint that she violated a nondisclosure agreement by “directly or indirectly disclosing protected subject matter” about his winnings, court papers state.
The court papers state that the defendant in the case disclosed the information to the winner’s father and stepmother. Both the winner and the defendant in the case are identified only by pseudonyms.
Court filings state that the winner lives in Maine and the defendant lives in Massachusetts. The defendant has until Dec. 6 to respond to the lawsuit.
Records did not list an attorney for the defendant in the case. The winner’s attorney, Gregory Brown of Knoxville, Tennessee, told the Portland Press Herald that neither he nor his client would discuss the lawsuit.
The complaint states that the winner and the defendant entered into the nondisclosure agreement shortly after the purchase of the winning ticket. The lawsuit states that the winner is seeking an injunction from a judge and at least $100,000 in damages.
He overcame steep odds, of about 1 in 302.6 million, to take home the grand prize in the Mega Millions lottery last January. His win marked the first time that a ticket purchased in Maine matched all six numbers to earn the jackpot, which was one of the largest in Mega Millions history.
