What would you do if tomorrow you found out that you had won millions of dollars through the lottery? One man from Ontario, Canada decided that he would lie to his longtime common-law partner, pack up his belongings while she wasn’t home, and then attempt to disappear with the winnings.
Maurice Thibeault and Denise Robertson had been living together as common-law partners for several years. They would buy a lottery ticket each week, alternating who would actually go to the store and pay for it.
When the announcement was made that the winning ticket had been sold in their city, Richardson asked Thibeault if they had won. He knew that they had in fact won, but he lied right to her face in order to greedily keep all the money for himself.
It wasn’t until a few days later that Richardson realized that she had been screwed. She came home and found that Thibeault had packed up all of his stuff and left without any warning. She started calling around and found out through some of his friends that he had quit his job because he had won the lottery.
Richardson immediately called a lawyer to try and stop him from cashing out on the $6 million payday.
Before Thibeault could cash out the ticket with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, Richardson’s lawyer, Steve Pickard filed an injunction with the courts to block the payment until the situation could be worked out in court.
The situation took a turn this week as the OLG released roughly half of the winnings to Thibeault after they had confirmed that it was in fact him who had physically purchased the ticket.
The remainder of the $6 million prize is still up for grabs as the court battle ensues. Richardson’s lawyer is considering another injunction to prevent the payout. He says that it gives Thibeault an unfair advantage during litigation because he would have access to millions of dollars to continue fighting the case.
Who knows how the courts will see this situation, but Richardson is hoping that it doesn’t have to get there.
“I keep hoping that Maurice will simply do the right thing and acknowledge our agreement to share, knowing that he would have expected me to share with him if I had been the one to go to the store that day,” she said.
Let us know in the comments how you would handle this situation. Who deserves what?
