Winning the lottery is something every one of us has dreamed of. Just imagine having enough money in your bank account to go out and purchase any car or house you desired, or even treat your loved ones to a luxury vacation – any time you wanted! What’s more, knowing you’ll never have to work another day in your life or worry about outstanding bills or rent. It’s clear to see why the allure of the lottery appeals to so many of us.
Sadly, all of my lottery wins have ended up looking more like this…
Financial worries plague so many of us, but imagine winning a life changing amount of money on the lottery after having struggled for years in poverty. It’s a feel-good story the entire nation can enjoy! However, then imagine someone you thought you could trust threatening to take all that away from you. Well, that’s exactly what happened to Marie Holmes from North Carolina.
The mom-of-four won a huge amount of money on the Powerball lottery, and it seemed like it had forever lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. That is, until one pastor by the name of Kevin Matthews decided he wanted to sabotage her chances of escaping her financial worries…
At the time of her monumental win, Miss Holmes had been working a number of different jobs just to get by, and didn’t know how she would be able to continue paying the bills.
But after years of struggling to get by, Marie Holmes couldn’t believe her luck when she won $188 million on the North Carolina Powerball lottery in February 2015. After opting to take out her winnings as a $127 million lump sum, per Inquisitr, she thought all her money troubles were over.
But Miss Holmes was about to learn a valuable lesson; the more money you have, the more problems you have. It wouldn’t be long before she was betrayed and stabbed in the back… By her friendly neighborhood pastor.
When so much money is involved, it seems some people lose their humane side. Find out how a supposedly well-meaning and trustworthy pastor fought to take MILLIONS of dollars from Holmes…
Kevin Matthews was a local pastor who gave Holmes counselling sessions in the pretense that he was doing so in order to be a good Christian leader. Holmes thought she could trust the pastor, and following her life-changing win, it wasn’t long before the two of them came up with a plan to help him purchase a plot of land.
The idea was that the land would be used in order to build a new retreat center. However, even after Miss Holmes forked out an eye-watering $700,000 for the purchase of the land, Matthews was hungry for more money from her, claiming she had originally agreed to cough up more than twice as much. So he sued her…
“The bottom line… I just want her to do what she said she was going to do,” Matthews claimed, according to Centric TV. “I want peace and to do what God told me to do. I want her to do what she said she was going to do. I really feel like a warrior for Christ and people need to be accountable.”
Matthews successfully sued Holmes for $10 million after she failed to pay him the $1.5 million he wanted, and that he claims they had originally agreed to. Matthews has even spoken out about the trial, stating how doctors have been forced to increase his anti-depression medication;
“Because of the emotional distress and mental stress, they put me through, I had to start taking more medicine for anxiety and depression due to this situation.” It would be an understatement to say that he has received a negative backlash following the court case…
To further add to Miss Holmes’ worries, she recently had to fork out a whopping $21 million to bail her partner, Lamar McDow, out of jail, after he was arrested on suspicion of being a drug dealer – a claim they strongly deny and state is fuelled by “racism” from neighbors on their new estate.
Speaking out about his ongoing struggles with the law, McDow told the Daily Mail, “We are a couple, and I am the father of her youngest child. This is what people do for each other. She has the money and she can do what she wants with it. If I had that money then I would do the same for her. People are just jealous because of how much she won and people want to see me locked in jail.”
Luckily, Iyanla Vanzant who hosts the show, Fix My Life, heard about Holmes’ struggles and decided to help her out. “It is my intention to show Marie that hers is not a problem of wealth,” Vanzant said. “It is a problem of maturity, of self-respect and of dignity.”Although it initially didn’t look good for the mom-of-four, she did ultimately receive the help she so desperately needed!
After all these struggles, we hope that Miss Holmes can start to enjoy her newfound wealth, as she’s certainly been through enough to deserve it.
