Mirlande Wilson works in a McDonald’s in Maryland, but it appears like the 30-year-old got tired of her daily job and aimed higher… much higher. When the record-breaking $656 million prize was won in March, she decided to claim the ownership of one of the three winning tickets. Her actions triggered an immediate response from 14 of her coworkers, who decided to sue Mirlande alleging lottery fraud. The disgruntled employees claimed that her colleague tried to defraud the Maryland Lottery in an attempt of stripping them of their rightful prize.
The Three Amigos step it
Many found Mirlande Wilson’ story implausible and the fact that she changed her statement frequently, only lead to suspicion surrounding her case. It appears that the woman was a part of a lottery syndicate, and she was in charge of purchasing lottery tickets on behalf of her colleagues. Immediately after the winning numbers were announced, Mirlande claimed that she was the sole winner and that she hid the winning ticket in the McDonald’s where she was working.
The lottery officials never acknowledged her claim and repeatedly stated that Wilson was not telling the truth, but things turned from bad to worse for Mirlande when three public school educators stepped in. They are calling themselves “The Three Amigos” and in mid-April they came forward to claim ownership of the winning ticket in Maryland. They said that they’ve purchased the ticket in a 7-Eleven in Milford Mill and this triggered an even more aggressive reaction from the group of 14 McDonald’s employees.
Nothing more than wishful thinking
They accused Mirlande Wilson of being in cahoots with the three public school educators, claiming that they were simply hired by their former colleague. The reason was to trick the Maryland lottery, so that the money would be eventually split between the four people at the expense of the McDonald’s workers. This scenario had few followers and it was short-lived, because once again the lottery stepped in and told the media that “The Three Amigos” were indeed the true winners.
Their conclusion was that the McDonald’s employees were simply deceived by their colleague and following Wilson’s claims had their hopes boosted for nothing. Despite these official conclusions, the 14 people pushed forward with their trial convinced that Mirlande orchestrated the entire deal and promised the three educators 1 million each for the role they’ve played in the scam. Justice will decide who will cash in the impressive amount and who will serve time for fraud, but so far the facts tend to suggest that none of the McDonald’s workers will see a penny.
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About Jeremy Rapaport
Okay, my name is Jeremy and you can find me on Google+. I`m here to write about the lottery. You may ask, why lottery? Everything is simple – life is the lottery! It`s a pretty interesting stuff to write about. Some people win, some people lose, but no one loses the hope. Here you can find everything you wanted to know about the lottery. Almost all world’s lotteries are gathered in one place. So, join us and let`s try our luck together!
