A Los Angeles winner who already cashed in $197.5 million from the December 2023 Mega Millions draw just got shot down in court while boldly trying to claim the entire $395 million for himself!
Faramarz Lahijani swore he bought two identical winning tickets at an Encino gas station… then tragically lost one. He showed up with the surviving ticket, collected his first massive payout, and then — with just days left before the second ticket expired — sued the California Lottery for the other half, insisting he’s the “sole winner” and deserves it all!
Cue the courtroom showdown!
On Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu basically laughed the case out of court, ruling: No ticket, no jackpot. California law and Mega Millions rules are crystal clear — you gotta have the actual winning ticket in your hand to claim the prize. Period.
And then… plot twist! A woman named Cheryl Wilson stepped forward claiming she bought the missing second ticket — only to have it stolen by a former boss! The mystery deepens!
So the unclaimed $197.5 million stays unclaimed for now, Lahijani walks away “only” a multimillionaire instead of a near-half-billionaire, and the rest of us get another legendary lottery tale to tell.
Moral of the story? Sign your ticket, guard it with your life… and maybe don’t buy two of the exact same numbers unless you really, really love that gas station!
Separately, her motion to intervene was denied for similar reasons: that without a physical ticket, there is no case to answer. Treu also said he did not want to turn the case into a “dispute over alleged theft and fraud.”
Given the lottery’s confirmation that the two winning tickets were sold in separate transactions, the most straightforward explanation is that two people independently purchased tickets with the same numbers. It’s a scenario that’s far more common than a single buyer intentionally duplicating an identical entry, since friends, acquaintances, or even strangers in line can share numbers on a whim.
However, with Monday’s the ruling, the remaining half of the jackpot will remain unclaimed, and we may never know the truth.
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Rephrased by The Mystic Gambler