One of the best-known Powerball winners of all time, Gloria Mackenzie, is suing her son for bad investments made with her lottery money. She won $590 million in 2013 and she was the world’s biggest lottery winner at the time.
Mrs. Mackenzie was 84 years old when she won the Powerball and she split the money with her son, Scott Mackenzie. He had promised to take care of her for the rest of her life, which he claims he has. The lump sum payout for the jackpot was $278 million.
Since Mrs. Mackenzie did not have enough experience with handling such impressive finances, she gave her son power of attorney for her share of the jackpot as well. During these six years, Mr. Mackenzie has invested the money in several affairs, but, as it turns out, not only did these investments not return a profit, but they actually ended up costing a few extra tens of millions of dollars, according to the court paper in the Mackenzie case.
As you may imagine, Mr. Mackenzie does not believe that making poor investments with his mother’s money is worthy of a lawsuit. His take on the matter is that the accusations “are based solely on allegations that Scott introduced Gloria to an investment adviser who put her in conservative investment vehicles, in accordance with her chosen investment objectives, and effectively preserved her wealth.”
The backstory to this case, though, points into a different direction. The court papers also revealed that Mrs. Mackenzie’s daughter had told her that the financial adviser that Scott had introduced her to had previously faced professional discipline. As soon as Scott found out about this, he threatened to disinherit them.
It remains to be seen how the Mackenzie case will proceed and if Scott Mackenzie will end up paying damages to his mother.