Americo Lopes could have been lucky. The 62-year-old American has won the equivalent of 15.8 million euros with his syndicate. The six close friends and work colleagues have been playing the lottery together for years. But instead of sharing the money as agreed, the former construction worker doesn’t tell his friends about the profit, like “RTLreported.
Lotto player conceals multi-million prize from syndicate
Instead, Lopes reportedly quits his job for health reasons. Shortly thereafter he buys a new car and a property. The new house alone costs around 1.4 million euros.
He tells one of his old work colleagues that he was extremely lucky. A week after he left the job, he won the lottery privately. The former colleague then becomes suspicious and begins to research. He quickly finds out that Lopez won the money while still at his old job.
Former friends are suing lottery winners who have to pay back almost everything
When the former employee tells his colleagues about the scam, the friends decide to sue Lopes. The problem, however, is that there is no written agreement on profit sharing. However, since the five people affected can credibly describe the beginnings and organization of the betting group, they are ultimately right in court.
Lopes, on the other hand, remains true to his statement that he won the money privately. That doesn’t help him much: The 62-year-old has to pay each of his five colleagues around 2.8 million euros. But that’s not all. Since Lopes had already spent around 4.6 million euros before the trial, the man from New Jersey ultimately had nothing left of the profit.
