14 fast-food employees say co-worker tricked state lotto to avoid sharing winnings
A group of 14 McDonald's employees from the Baltimore, Maryland, area are still convinced they were winners in the massive $656 million Mega Millions jackpot drawing earlier this year — despite being told otherwise by lottery officials — and are claiming that a co-worker defrauded the Maryland Lottery to avoid sharing a payout with them.
On Sept. 19, the group filed a civil lawsuit against their co-worker, Mirlande Wilson, a Westport woman who briefly gained celebrity status and international media attention in April after claiming to be the holder of a winning ticket purchased in Baltimore County. Two other winning tickets were purchased in Kansas and Illinois; each ticket was reportedly worth more than $100 million in cash after taxes.
As the hype grew and the news media began staking out Wilson's home, Wilson held a bizarre news conference and eventually said she lost her ticket. Days later, lottery officials announced that the real holders of the winning Baltimore County ticket were three public school educators they dubbed the "Three Amigos."
Wilson's co-workers at McDonald's weren't convinced.
The group's lawsuit says Wilson did buy a winning ticket as part of a lottery pool the co-workers were in and that she and her lawyer, Edward Smith Jr., orchestrated an elaborate ruse to recruit the educators and trick the Maryland Lottery into believing they had won rather than Wilson.
One of the McDonald's employees, Dominique Gourdet, claims in an affidavit filed in the case that when the lottery numbers were picked March 30, he was Wilson's live-in boyfriend. Gourdet says Wilson told him multiple times that a ticket she'd purchased for the McDonald's pool had won, and that she had shown him pictures of the winning ticket with the winning numbers on her phone.
Gourdet also says Wilson told him that each of the three educators claiming to be the winners would be given $1 million for "helping" in the scheme, while Smith would receive $2 million.
"She advised that an arrangement was made for others to claim the prize as their own, but that in fact she had provided the ticket and that she would ultimately receive the vast bulk of the prize," Gourdet claims in his affidavit.
Gourdet's affidavit claims Wilson told him "that she did not want to share the prize with others at work, particularly the Hispanic workers."
Reached on Friday, Wilson said she never had the ticket and the claims in the lawsuit are false.
"It's not true," she said. "This is a baseless story."
Wilson declined to comment further.
On Sept. 20, Baltimore Circuit Judge John Philip Miller denied a motion by the plaintiffs requesting a temporary restraining order against Wilson, enjoining her from using or transferring lottery assets, because neither she nor her attorney was given notice of the motion, according to court documents.
But the case remains active, and the attorney for the McDonald's workers, John Yannone of Price Benowitz in Washington, has asked the court to allow two New Jersey attorneys who have experience in such cases to join the plaintiffs' legal team.
Yannone did not return multiple requests for comment.
Smith, Wilson's attorney, said in an email that Wilson "denies any knowledge of this allegation," but could not be reached for further comment.
Carole Everett, a Maryland Lottery spokeswoman, laughed out loud after being told of the lawsuit, saying it sounded like wishful thinking from a group who had their hopes unfairly raised by Wilson in the first place. The "Three Amigos" are the true winners, Everett said.
"It was verified," she said.
Everett said surveillance video from the Milford Mill 7-Eleven store where the Baltimore County ticket was purchased was reviewed by lottery officials, but she declined to further explain the lottery's ticket verification and security measures.
Because of the amount of the winnings, the Mega Millions winners were "scrutinized even more" than average lottery winners, Everett said.
Mirlande, Mirlande, Mirlande, Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive...
Sounds like the Mcdaonalds employees are reaching .Hell i would as well if I was serving bugers for min wages not that theres anything wrong with having a job of that nature its a grueling job.This is a open and shut case the Maryland Lottery will testify and theis will be over before it even starts.They should play the lottery its beeter than trying to vulture off someone elses joy.
Frivalous lawsuit now enroute! More tax payer money and even the poor workers money going to a hopeless cause. A simple audit of the alledged Ladies accounts/financials will solve this. Hiding money offshore is no longer a simple task, and hiding it in and of itself is evasive...My advice is for the workers to buy a happy meal and get happy that they are alive, with loving families and life is way to short to cast stones into shallow water. The lawyers are the only ones that will come out with money in pocket.
Mirlande likes to fatmouth and she was doing it just to piss off those Hispanic co-workers that she didn't like.
The story from her ex-boyfriend was just more fatmouthin' from her to sex up the story a little more.
The 3 Amigos were already vetted and checked out.
I always find it odd that educators for schools win alot. Or cooks who work at schools win, or people who work in the school system win alot.
Yet I also find it odd that Dominique Gourdet, the live in boyfriend claims in an affidavit filed in the case that when the lottery numbers were picked March 30, he being Wilson's live-in boyfriend would not have said anything at the time. Gourdet the live in boyfriend says Wilson told him multiple times that a ticket she'd purchased for the McDonald's pool had won, and that she had shown him pictures of the winning ticket with the winning numbers on her phone.
If this were true then why wouldn't he had come forward months ago. And I would have found it very difficult to not say anything to anyone even if I were asked not to say anything, its almost impossible to keep something like that under your hat without spilling the beans and telling a sacred secret friend? So where is the secret friend the boyfriend told that his gilfriend had won. Trust me you, I would have told somebody in secret I could trust. I have a few sacred friends and I would have at least told the closest of them. So did any of Goudets very very closest friends get a call from him hearing him say that Wilson had the winning ticket and she showed it to him on her cell phone?
Lets imagine that your girlfriend had the winning ticket, she shows you pictures of the ticket with the winning numbers on the ticket in the picture on her phone, what would your reaction be? What would anyones reaction be? You are the boyfriend, you are shown a picture of the winning ticket on your girlfriends phone, the biggest lottery in recent times and you dont say anything untill now? That seems sorta unlike what I would do or anyone I know would do. And then you let 3 others step forward called the "3 Amigo's" and win without saying a word at the time till now. He should have been on the front page, on the news, claiming they are liars. Thats what I would have done if I had truly and honestly been shown the winning ticket for the biggest lottery in the known world at the time. That alone seems unlike anything anyone I know would do, just stand by and let "3 Amigos" claim the money and not say a word. My question is why did he wait so long to finally speak up? March 30 is the beginning of the year.
My other question is how the hell did this year go by so fast???? That's really what I wanna know???
And another thought just occured to me, she hated hispanics so much but recruited 3 educators who claimed to be the 3 Amigos. But then again if she really did have the winning ticket and hated hispanics what better story to construct than one with 3 Amigos, knowing well in advance that her hispanic co-workers would one day try to expose her, what better aliby than to say "if I had the winning ticket do you think I would have constructed a story of the educators claiming to be the 3 Amigos when I hate hispanics so much!
In a way that would actually be the perfect story to get the public to believe you never had the winning ticket!
Maybe it is true and she did win and we all bought into her great scheme?!!! I think it deserves a bit more investagation!
I still dont like the fact tat people who work for the school system win so much, thats suspicious right there! Im just sayin!
And again HOW THE HELL DID THIS YEAR GO BY SO FAST ! Now Im going to TacoBell, Im suddenly hungry for a burrito see ya!
Dude. You got too much time on your hands.
I already knew that working with stupid people could sometimes be inconvenient or even dangerous, but I never could have seen this one coming.
I hope these mcdonald workers get nothing because they deserve nothing. Every body in their right mind knows that the school teachers won and this mcdonald's worker was just a plain liar about her winning the lottery. Good day to you all.-weshar75
This end of story is over six months old. Eat your sour grapes, and go out and buy yourselves a ticket.
Her cravings for fame backfired to say the least.
I said at the time that she and the real winner were in cahoots somehow. I initially thought that she was running the "Kansas city shuffle" scheme, make everyone look one way while the real winners claim without all that attention. Basically a distraction.
Never did I imagine that she was actually the real winner and schemed with the fake winners to steal money from her pool. Come to think about, if all of this is true, then she really did run the Kansas City Shuffle. While I was thinking she was running one con, she was running a completely different one.
If there is something there, they will find it. These people are not professionals, if they did it, they likely left some footprints. Don't be so quick to pick a side. There was always something fishy with how all that went down. Never seen anything like it. Her actions do kinda resemble that of a person who won the lotto but then quickly remembered that she had to share it with a lot of people.
Are you serious.
Maybe in another 20 more years, you'll believe these teachers were the actual winners......but probably not.
What does 20 years have to do with anything?
When you see that Ms. Wilson is still living her poverty stricken lifestyle, and doesn't have those hundreds of millions after all.
I guess you've never seen an episode of How the Lottery Ruined My Life.
I guess you've had one too many Happy Meals.
It's OK though, some kids can't get enough of those free toys.
Oh, cool.
lol, too funny
and why do I have that odd feeling you have an entire closet full of McDonald's free toys
I think Mirlande's former coworkers are as crazy as she is. Maybe if the lottery officials give them all pink swine caps, they will go away.
Those toys are gonna be collectible some day.
They are going to be worth a fortune Ronnie316!
I've been collecting these since since I was a young lad. (although I'm still quite young).
How could this thing happen. How could people do this? I feel so sad to read this news about lottery winnings, lottery sharings and illegal acts of people.
AAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I was waiting for that SWEET photo to pop up...............
My guess is that Mirlande started all this as a prank, not realizing the attention she would get.
Always have it armed and ready to spring forth, just for these special occasions!
Thanks mcginnin56, you know the old saying....... "The sweeter the swine, the finer the wine"
My Grand Pappy brought me up with those words of wisdom, from the time I was able to sit on his lap.
How could I ever forget.
about sums this story up. but i have to thank the shift crew at macdonalds, for providing us all here some much needed entertainment.
Im glad Mirlande is "ok" with not winning.... Clearly her co-workers are NOT ok with it....
Very good point savage!
Perhaps we should consider taking up a collection here at LP, to help out this down and out McDonald's pool crew?
The entertainment they gave us, was certainly worth doing that much for them......no??
Yes, memories. Mine used to say "A fine swine is like a fine wine, they both get better and better"
The variations on that phrase, are as countless as the odds of getting a straight pick 4 of "2929", on February 29.
Does this mean no sympathy for the disgruntled McDonald's lottery pool crew.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer-er and the McDonalds get McDonalder-er.....
Or getting the 11 bonus ball on Sept. 11...
lol Right!
ill buy a ticket, and write "maccas crew" on the back,
they can hire lawyers if it wins.
People need to get a life. You have to work hard for your money. Throwing money away in the lottery is simply stupid when you really ain't gonna win nothing. What a lot of people don't know is that. The lottery is a tax on poor people and stupid people. Get this people. the lottery is a hoax. You don't really win big jackpots as they claim. They have the own actors to act winners. Don't be a fool.
I am sure Mirlande did show some pics of a fake winning ticket she got off the internet, etc. Sounds like she is still even more out of touch with reality than before.
Ding Cuckoo!
The more we hear of her story the more we realize how far she had taken her little scheme of making her other workers think they had won before telling them, "Oh, I lost the ticket"
I'm sure the three amigos are not laughing, this could end up being a small headache for them.
I doubt it. The were verified and paid. This will never even get heard in court. A simple motion to dismiss for failure to state a valid claim will end it (claims have to be colorable...even minimally. Saying Mirlande did this and that is not exactly reliable). Most or all of it will fall on the lottery officials to respond. The 3 amigos should not issue a peep.
That's why no one here at this site plays the lottery. This website is just a smoke screen, and a hoax created by the lotteries to induce
people to waste their hard earned money.
Weren't you aware of this Sjack? The majority of us just play bingo, checkers or fish to entertain ourselves. Are you any good at checkers?
All of you who thought Mirlande was after her 15 minutes were WRONG. She wanted 30. Lol!
Actually I bet the suit will be dismissed with prejudice so they can't refile. Can you imagine Mirlande on the witness stand?
As long as she had her pink swine hat on, the force would be with her.
Now that I think about it,I don't remember seeing the "Three Amigos"educators at a state lottery news conference,holding that winning lottery ticket.If someone has a photo of them,please put it up on Lottery Post.Thanks.
Thank you !That was fast !
Actually my computer is running slow today, normally can do that in about one minute or less.
Your welcome. Does this make you feel better now?
Now pull up the winning numbers for Wednesday. I can wait the EXTRA minute.
I've got em', but not sharing Original Bey.
See that's why I never do an office pool, never never, never!!!
Lawyers must be HARD UP for work in Maryland.
One represented the Big Mac who couldn't produce a ticket
Now another is representing these Happy Meals that didn't see the winning ticket the first goon never produced.
I'm surprised those folks are still working for McDonald, I thought they had a high turn over rate.
You're not the first to say that and you won't be the last.
I'm sure they have stayed on for all these years, because of the free Happy Meals.
In the end that's how McDonald's retains their cheap slave labor.
Who else would stick around for minimum wage (what is it now $2/hour?).
O I agree Piaceri! TOO MUCH! WAAAAYYY TO MUCH! In fact I dont even know what time it is right now? All I know is I have a hell of a lot of time behind me, a hell of a lot of time right now and a hell of a lot of time in front of me....all I have is time.
In Fact a song is starting to play in my head right now...
Yeah, I'm sittin' on this bar stool talking like a d amnn fool
Got the twelve o'clock news blues
And I've given up hope for the afternoon soaps
And a bottle of cold brew
Is it any wonder I'm not crazy?
Is it any wonder I'm sane at all?
I'm so tired of losin', I've got nothing to do
And all day to do it
So, I go out cruisin', but I've no place to go
And all night to get there
Is it any wonder I'm not a criminal?
Is it any wonder I'm not in jail?
Is it any wonder I've got too much time on my hands?
Ticking away with my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands
It's hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands
And it's ticking away - ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands
(T-T-T-T-T-Ticking away)
Too much time on my hands
(And I don't know what to do with myself)
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
Now, I'm a jet-fuel genius
I can solve the world's problems without even trying
I got dozens of friends, and the fun never ends
That is, as long as I'm buying
Is it any wonder I'm not the President?
Is it any wonder I'm null and void?
Is it any wonder I've got too much time on my hands?
Ticking away with my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands
It's hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands
And it's ticking away - ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands
(T-T-T-T-T-Ticking away)
Too much time on my hands
(And I don't know what to do with myself)
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
(T-T-T-Ticking away)
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
(Too much time on my hands)
(Too much time on my...)
Too much time on my hands is a STYX song and I make no claim to the lyrics only that I have too much time on my hands.
This just goes to show that people will sue for any reason. Even after being told by the lottery commission that she didn't have a winning ticket they are still suing. Ridiculous.
These IDIOTS DESERVE WHAT THAT GOT ----- NOTHING.
How many times have you heard the same ole story about some group pooling their money without a Lottery Pool Contract. I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER, enter a Lottery Pool without a signed Contract. If you think for a second, that people are trust worthy with 656 million Dollars at stake, you're an IDIOT or you are REALLY REALLY STUPID. Personally I don't feel sorry for none of these IDIOTS. YOU DESERVE TO KEEP WORKING AT McDonalds. Oh yeah, I'm sorry, Look at where you work, Mcdonalds, that right there says you desreve what you got. No Pity party here. You better not quit your Mcdonalds job, cause you're gonna need it. (ROFLMAO)
What kinda lawyer would take the case?????
i only have one thing to say to these people
" Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions - all on a sesame seed bun "
Yum! Yum!
Last I heard, minimum wage was about $8/hour if you don't get tips and about $4/hour if you do.