The winner of the second-biggest prize in the history of the Mega Millions lottery has taken the mother of his daughter to court for telling his parents about the win despite signing an NDA.

The unidentified man, who chose to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons, claims that his daughter’s mother was one of the few people who knew about his lottery win in January 2023. She was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) preventing her from spilling the beans to anyone for a period of almost a decade, as the lottery winner considered “the best uses of the life-changing prize,” but she broke that legally-binding agreement by allegedly telling his parents and sister. Now, the man wants her to pay compensation of “no less than $100,000 per unauthorized disclosure”.

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“As a result of Defendant’s unauthorized disclosures, John Doe has suffered irreparable injury, and there is immediate and imminent danger that John Doe will continue to suffer irreparable injury for which there is no adequate remedy at law,” the lawsuit alleges.

The woman, named Sara Smith in the lawsuit, reportedly agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement stating that she must keep the jackpot a secret until June 1, 2032, when their daughter comes of age. If she did accidentally spill the beans, she was required to tell the winner within 24 hours. However, the winner’s lawyers allege that she failed to do that after telling the man’s parents about his historic win during a telephone call. That led to several other people learning about the win, including his sister.

 

The plaintiff is now asking Smith to pay him at least $100,000 in compensation, as well as cover the costs of litigation and reveal to him who else she told about his lottery win.

In January, John Doe won a historic $1.35 billion, the fourth-largest lottery prize in US history, and despite opting for a lump sum of $723,564,144, it still left him with just under $400 million after taxes.