A 90-year-old lottery winner from the US is suing her son and his financial advisors for mismanaging her fortune after he ‘squandered’ tens of millions of dollars.
Gloria Mackenzie, from Florida, became the biggest single winner in Powerball history when she scooped the windfall in 2013. She originally won $590,500,000 but after choosing to take a lump sum payment and paying taxes, she was left with $278,000,000.
She says her son has mismanaged the money, putting the cash into poor investments, something she says has cost tens of millions of dollars and has now made the decision to sue her son, and his financial advisors.
After the win in 2013, the winner gave half her winnings to her son, who had vowed to care for her for the rest of her life, and with no experience herself of managing large amounts of cash, she also gave her son power of attorney over her own finances.
But last month Ms Mackenzie filed a lawsuit in Jacksonville, Florida claiming that low-return investments made by her son and his financial advisors cost her tens of millions of dollars that she could have earned had the money been better managed. The suit also states that she has been charged $2,000,000 in fees.
Mr Mackenzie responded to the suit in court papers stating there is no basis for the legal action. He says the claims are based solely on allegations that Scott introduced Gloria to an advisor who put her cash into conservative investments rather than risky ones, and that this was in line with her chosen objectives to preserve her wealth.