Jury Grants Five Men $4 Million Dollars Each After Co-Worker Cheated Them Out Of $38.5 Million Lottery Pool In 2009

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SMH at that guy trying to get over on his “poor” co-workers:

Five men walked out of the Union County courthouse $4 million richer this morning. A Union County jury ruled that Americo Lopes, 52, cheated his five coworkers and lottery pool members out of a $38.5 million jackpot. The eight-member jury was unanimous in its decision that the November 10, 2009 lottery was won on a pool ticket and not a personal ticket, as Lopes had claimed.

The former Elizabeth construction worker testified that he bought 12 tickets — including the jackpot winner that day — solely for himself, even though he typically played in a lottery pool with the five men who each paid for two tickets. Lopes and his wife Margarida walked quickly out of the courtroom after the decision with their, attorney Michael Mezzacca.

“They robbed me,” Lopes said in Portuguese. The five plaintiffs who won the $20 million suit against Lopes embraced one another in the courtroom. They all worked together at Berto Construction Inc. in Elizabeth where they began playing the lottery together in 2007.

The case rested mostly on testimony from the five men and Lopes about the habits of the lottery pool. A sixth construction worker, uninvolved in the lawsuit, also testified and said the men gave Lopes money to play the pool the day of the winning drawing. “I have a lot to do,” Carlos Fernandez, one of the five plaintiffs said after the verdict. “My granddaughter was born yesterday. I have to buy her a present she’ll remember.”

Good for them!!

Source

The Star-Ledger