In a remarkable turn of events, a woman who divorced her husband after winning a staggering N1.5 billion in a lottery has been issued a court order compelling her to surrender the entire sum to her ex-spouse.
The woman in question, Denise Rossi, a resident of the United States, found herself left with no alternative but to relinquish her lottery windfall to her former husband after it was revealed that she had concealed the money during their divorce proceedings.
Denise's stroke of luck occurred a mere 11 days prior to filing for divorce from Thomas Rossi, her spouse of a quarter-century.
Throughout the divorce process, Denise purposefully withheld information about her newfound wealth, hoping to keep it solely for herself.
However, her plan backfired when a letter from a lottery prize payment company mistakenly arrived at Thomas's apartment two years after their divorce was finalized.
To his astonishment, Thomas discovered that his ex-wife had won a jaw-dropping N1.5 billion in the California State Lottery and had been receiving an annual sum of N25 million.
Prompted by this revelation, he initiated legal action against Denise, alleging violations of asset disclosure laws and accusing her of fraudulent and malicious behavior.
Ultimately, a judge in a Los Angeles family court sided with Thomas, ruling that Denise's entire lottery winnings be awarded to him.
The judge noted that if Denise had been forthright about her windfall from the outset, she could have retained half of the funds. However, by concealing the winnings, she forfeited her claim to any portion of the money.