Another lottery tragedy

From CNN:

A Florida woman has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of a lottery millionaire whose body was found buried under fresh concrete, authorities said.

Dorice Donegan Moore, 37, was arrested last week on charges of accessory after the fact regarding a first-degree murder in the death of Abraham Shakespeare, 43, said Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee. She remains in the Hillsborough County Jail, he said.

Moore befriended Shakespeare after he won a $31 million Florida lottery prize in 2006 and was named a person of interest in the case after Shakespeare disappeared, authorities said.

Another lottery loser

Via the Arizona Republic:

A man who won $10 million in a California lottery game has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash that killed three people.

Thomas Turnour had pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and causing injury while driving intoxicated.

The winner of a SuperLotto game in 2001 was sentenced Friday in San Bernardino.

Authorities say the 52-year-old man from Victorville was driving a pickup truck that hit a car stopped at a red light in San Bernardino three years ago. Three people inside the first car died.

His attorney says Turnour essentially "turned over everything he has" to settle a lawsuit filed by the victims' families.

A lottery winner who's not blowing his money on strippers

Brad Duke, who managed 5 Gold's Gyms in Idaho, won a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005, which translated to an $85 million lump sum payment after taxes. He assembled a team of financial advisors before claiming the prize, and set a goal of turning that $85 million into $1 billion in the next 15 years. Here's what he's done with the money so far:

Investments:
$45 million in low-risk investments such as municipal bonds.
$35 million in aggressive, high-risk investments such as real estate, oil, and gas.

Donations:
$1.3 million creating a family foundation.

Debt retirement:
$125,000 to pay off his mortgage (on a 1,400 sf house he still lives in)
$18,000 to pay off student loans

Purchases:
$65,000 on bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike
$14,500 on a used VW Jetta

Gifts:
$12,000 annual gift to each member of his immediate family

Splurge:
$63,000 on a trip to Tahiti with 17 friends

The result so far--he's turned $85 million into $128-$130 million.

Three lottery stories

Sex offender wins $14 million in lottery (Jensen Beach, Florida).
Man with year to live wins $50,000 a year (Rochester, New York).
Bill would refuse lottery wins for sex offenders (Jefferson City, Missouri).

And Jamie Zawinski suggests a fourth:
Bill would refuse lottery wins for cancer victims.

W. Virginia record Powerball winner says his money is all gone

Jack Whittaker, the trouble-plagued winner of what was then the largest Powerball jackpot, $315 million (a $113 million lump sum after taxes), now says that it's all gone.

UPDATE (January 15, 2007): Apparently Whittaker claims that thieves cashed checks at multiple branches of City National Bank to steal his money--and this is why he can't pay a settlement to a woman who sued him for assaulting her at the Tri-City Racetrack and Gaming Center near Charleston, WV. But the bank just says that they are investigating "small discrepancies" in his accounts--which doesn't sound like it's all gone.

Another lottery casualty

The Arizona Republic reports on the story of Shefik Tallmadge, who won $6.7 million in the Arizona Lottery in 1988 at the age of 29. He was the biggest Pick winner at the time, taking the payment as 20 years of $335,000 payments. He quit his job, bought a Porsche, took his family around the world, completed a political science degree, and married a pharmacist. He cashed in on the remainder of his lottery winnings in 1998 to get a large lump sum, which he used to buy an expensive house and four gas stations. Last year he filed for bankruptcy and continues to play the same numbers he won with on the Florida Lottery.

This seems to be a not-uncommon story for lottery winners.

Lottery winner tragedies continue

The body of Virginia Metcalf Merida, winner with her husband of a $65.4 million Powerball jackpot with her husband in 2000, was found dead in her 5,000 sf geodesic dome in Newport, Kentucky. She had apparently been dead for days before her son found her body Wednesday. She and her husband, Mack Wayne Metcalf, split up when they won the jackpot, and he died in 2003 at age 45 without "starting fresh" in Australia as he had planned. (Instead, he moved into a replica of George Washington's Mt. Vernon home in Kentucky.)

Jack Whittaker, the West Virginia millionaire who won the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history in 2002 ($314.9 million, Powerball), had his granddaughter die of a drug overdose in his home, was robbed of $545,000 cash while unconscious in a strip club, had his home and office robbed, was arrested twice for drunk driving and once for assault, and was accused of groping women at a racetrack.

Rotten.com has a lengthy list of lottery winner troubles here.

UPDATE (September 15, 2007): The Arizona Republic has an update on Jack Whittaker--his wife has left him, he's been involved in 460 legal actions since his win, he has no friends, everyone is always asking him for money (or trying to steal from him, often successfully), and he says he's going to be remembered as "the lunatic who won the lottery" rather than, as he desires, "someone who helped a lot of people."

Bush Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers

Bush is expected to nominate former Texas Lottery Commission head and current White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. She has no experience as a judge, and was head of the Texas Lottery Commission during Bush's term as governor of Texas, when Ben Barnes, the guy who got Bush into the Texas Air National Guard, received a gigantic severance payment from Gtech, the company with the contract to run the Texas Lottery, followed by Gtech getting it's contract extended without having to bid for it. Miers was in charge of the commission when it chose to extend Gtech's contract despite the fact that the company was involved in a bribery scandal. I'm sure there will be some interesting questions at the confirmation hearings if Miers is really the nominee.

BTW, Gtech has quite a history... in 1993, Virgin billionaire Richard Branson accused its founder, Guy Snowden, of trying to bribe him in relation to the UK national lottery.

Gtech also runs the state lottery in Jeb "Chang" Bush's state, Florida, as well.

(Note added 8:29 a.m.: Bush has announced the nomination.)