REVEALED: Details of bitter feud between Maine $1.3B lottery winner and his warring family
The brutal dispute destroying the family of Maine's $1.35 billion lottery winner has been laid bare in a new flurry of legal actions as he struggles to keep his name secret.
The man, named in court papers as John Doe, won the fourth largest lottery prize in US history when he hit the Mega Millions jackpot in January last year.
But his ex-partner has accused him of 'terrorizing' her with hired surveillance when she refused to resume their relationship, trying to kidnap their young daughter, crushing her with litigation and descending 'into the gutter'.
Doe has accused her of leaking details about his identity, and described the idea that he asked to get back together with a woman who had cheated on him as 'made for TV'.
But his father has backed her claims and accused the lottery winner of trying to cut him off from his granddaughter, telling him: 'You are not the son I knew'.
Storekeeper Fred Cotreau was delighted after selling the winning $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot ticket at his Hometown Gas and Grill store in Lebanon, Maine, in January last year
The jackpot was the fourth largest in US history and amounted to a lump sum of $723 million
Now the lawyers are in the driving seat with Doe's attorney Peter Brann facing off against Smith's attorney Louise Aponte at the US District Court in Portland, Maine
'(Doe) may be embarrassed—and should be embarrassed—that the public will learn that his own father effectively has called him a liar,' her attorney Louise Aponte told a district court last week.
'That he filed this lawsuit because he didn't want his own family to know that he won the lottery, that he was motivated to punish the mother of his child after she rejected him notwithstanding his billion-dollar lottery winnings.
'That he tried to buy custody of his daughter from Defendant, and having failed on that score, then used his wealth to try to overwhelm Defendant in this Stalingrad litigation and thus extort concessions in the ongoing family dispute concerning their daughter.'
The woman, who has been anonymized by the US District Court in Portland, Maine, as Sara Smith, met Doe in 2007 and they had a daughter together in June 2014.
They split up in 2020, and Doe claims he had been in a relationship with a new partner for a year by the time he bought his winning lottery ticket at the Hometown Gas and Grill in Lebanon, Maine, in January 2023.
He opted to receive his money in a single lump-sum payment of $723,564,144, amounting to around $500 million after taxes.
He said his new partner was with him when they told his ex about his win days later, and that Smith agreed in February last year to sign a non-disclosure (NDA) agreement that would keep the news secret until their daughter turned 18 in 2032.
The lottery winner is seeking $100,000 in damages from his former partner
A customer shops at the Hometown Gas & Grill, where the ticket was sold in Lebanon, Maine
Doe claims that his former partner is desperate for their names to leak out to the public
They met over Zoom on February 8 with Smith's new partner and Doe's newly hired 'security advisor' to discuss how to adjust to the 'new normal'.
Doe says that his advisor recommended that he and his daughter 'disappear' from the area for a few weeks before news broke of the lottery ticket being claimed.
'(Smith) expressed excitement about the new opportunities and experiences that would be available to her daughter,' Doe's lawyer Peter Brann submitted.
'(Smith) had no issue with (Doe) traveling with their daughter until negotiations fell through for her and her boyfriend to have an all-expense paid 'dream vacation' to Disney World at (Doe's) expense.
Smith called police claiming her ex had kidnapped their daughter, cut off the girl's GPS watch and sent it back to her in the post, forbade them from talking, and 'offered to buy custody'.
As their relationship deteriorated further Smith said Doe hired surveillance teams to spy on her at home and the hospital where she worked, following her in unmarked cars and recording visitors to her home in Dracut, Massachusetts.
'I often hear a clicking noise when I am on calls, including on calls with my attorneys, and I have had a number of unexplained dropped calls,' her latest declaration states. 'This has been happening for months.'
In November last year Doe sued her for $100,000 claiming she broke the NDA by telling his father, stepmother and sister about the lottery win.
And his lawyer summoned her from the hospital emergency room where she worked as a nurse to serve the papers.
'Then (Doe's) counsel sent a text message telling her that she was parked illegally at the hospital, and another text message later telling her that he could see she now was home,' her lawyer told the court.
'All of which she found terrifying, invasive, intimidating, and downright creepy.'
Doe, who still lives in Maine, admitted this month that he had, in fact, told his father within weeks about his lottery win, but insisted he gave no more details.
'I made the mistake of telling my father that I had won the lottery without having him sign a confidentiality agreement,' he wrote.
'Our relationship deteriorated quickly thereafter. I did not tell him what I was doing with my money, how I was going to benefit my daughter, or any facts other than the simple fact that I had won.'
In the latest court filings, Smith says Doe himself told his father and stepmom about his lottery win, which her lawyers claim 'shatters the remaining shards of this suit'
Doe's father offered damning testimony in support of his ex-partner
Smith claims that her former partner has been 'terrorizing' her with hired surveillance, trying to kidnap their young daughter, crushing her with litigation and descending 'into the gutter'
But his father, a retired police chief, categorically rejected the account in a scathing sworn affidavit on behalf of his son's ex-partner.
'In February or March of 2023, my son came to my house and informed me and my wife that he won a large amount of money in the Maine State Lottery,' he wrote.
He said Doe 'told me a number of things he planned on doing with his money,' and was lavish in promises to his parents.
'He told me he was going to build me a garage, and buy me some cars to fix up,' he wrote.
'He knew I previously enjoyed working on fixing up old cars.
'He also told me that he wanted to buy us the house that he had lived in with me and his mother (my previous wife) when he was young.
'He said, 'Find out what they want for it, and I'll pay double,' or words to that effect. This is not something my current wife and I wanted to do.'
Doe also allegedly promised round-the clock home care for his parents should it become necessary and a $1 million trust fund to provide a regular income.
'As a retired police chief in my 70s, I did not see the need for a trust fund at my age,' Doe's father wrote.
'He became upset and told me to contact his accountant.'
Doe accused Smith of 'gaslighting' his father and blamed her for the collapse of their relationship, but his father flatly denied the claim.
'It was my son who insisted that neither I nor my wife have any communications or contact with (Smith),' he wrote.
'(Smith) is the mother of our grandchild and we have had a good relationship with her over the years.
'I thought she was a good mother and we did not want to turn our back on her as he insisted.
'I told him 'You are not the son I knew'.
'He got angry, calling me a 'dictator' and an 'a**hole'.
'I have not heard from my son since, and he has not done any of the things he promised.'
Doe and Smith are now fighting for custody of their daughter and he claims that she wants their names to come out so she can win in the 'court of public opinion'.
He claims he was left to raise their daughter alone for 18 months after she walked out.
She says they agreed she would take temporary nursing jobs in Wyoming and Florida to pay bills after he was made redundant during the pandemic.
'Although (Doe) repeatedly smears (Smith) in his declaration, (she) does not descend into the gutter to respond.'
Doe warned the court that her lawyers are hoping to benefit from the 'Streisand Effect', named after a flurry of legal action aimed at keeping the singer's Malibu home secret only served to draw attention to it.
'No good mother would want her child exposed to the type of publicity engendered by the efforts of defendant's counsel,' his lawyers wrote.
'Similarly false, irrelevant, and made for TV is (Smith's) ridiculous and false claim that Doe asked her to 'get back together with him', they added.
'(Smith) was a toxic relationship: she cheated on him and abandoned him to raise their daughter alone.
'The idea that he would have sought to continue their relationship is as crazy as the idea that he kidnapped his daughter.
'(Doe) had a partner that he loved, with whom he had literally and not just figuratively won the lottery.'