$191 million Louisiana Powerball lottery winner claims prize

Dec 14, 2017, 9:40 am (14 comments)

Powerball

An October Powerball drawing that awarded a $191 million jackpot to a ticket purchased in Louisiana was claimed by an attorney representing a partnership, in order to mask the winners from public scrutiny.

Lafayette attorney Jean C. Breaux Jr. appeared at Lottery headquarters Tuesday morning with the Powerball ticket worth an estimated $191.1 million and claimed the prize via a Power of Attorney on behalf of his client, a three-member family partnership.

The group, 292 Family Partnership, opted for the lump sum prize payment option equal to the cash value of the jackpot, which was $119,492,685 for the Oct. 25 drawing. The payout represents the largest single prize ever won in the Lottery's 26-year history.

In a prepared statement, they said "We are absolutely elated that we won. We are a quiet family and prefer not to be treated as celebrities. As for our plans, we like to travel and will continue to do that — may even upgrade a bit! For those that say you'll never win, well never was on October 25th!"

According to a release from the Louisiana Lottery, Breaux said his clients played the Lottery regularly, keeping copies of their Powerball tickets. In fact, the winning ticket purchased by one of the members was taken to work with him offshore and back via helicopter.

"The winner checked the numbers against an older ticket on his phone and did not check the correct ticket until two members spoke on the phone," he shared.

Partnership members had a long-standing agreement to share their winnings should they win; the partnership received $83,644,879 after state and federal tax withholdings, with which they will "partially retire."

"It's a landmark day at the Lottery," said Lottery President Rose Hudson. "One of the best parts of our job is getting to hear Louisiana winners' stories and share in their life-changing experiences. We are pleased to welcome these new winners to the Lottery's Powerball millionaires club which is over 70 winners strong."

This historic winning ticket was sold at Brownie's, located at 150 West Maple in Eunice, which will receive a bonus of $25,000 for selling this winning ticket.

Owner Jeffery Duplechin said he plans to take his family on a small vacation with some of the windfall.  "I'm very excited to put Eunice on the map with this big win," Duplechin said, while admitting he isn't surprised Brownie's sold the jackpot winning ticket. "It's well known that successful tickets are sold here."

The winning numbers for the Oct. 25 drawing were 18, 22, 29, 54, and 57, with Powerball number 8.

This latest winning ticket brings the total number of Powerball jackpot winning tickets sold in Louisiana to 16 since the Lottery joined the multi-state game in 1995. The last time a Powerball jackpot-winning ticket was sold in Louisiana was May of 2013. This prize is also the largest single amount won in Louisiana Lottery history. Previously, the largest prize won in Louisiana was a $97 million Powerball jackpot from the Jan. 16, 2008, drawing, which was claimed by a Metairie man.

Powerball is now played in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com).  The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

I wonder how much the attorney gets?

lejardin's avatarlejardin

Quote: Originally posted by LiveInGreenBay on Dec 14, 2017

I wonder how much the attorney gets?

In this case, the attorney is a necessary evil lol.

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Great win and story, smart folks claiming through a trust. I hope they are Lottery Post contributors  Thumbs Up or become contributors in the future. Good luck with your newly acquired wealth.

Nice lil X-mas present !!

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

That's great BUT in Pennsylvania they will reveal the members of the Trust!

Raven62's avatarRaven62

A fine example for any Jackpot Winner of how to claim their Prize!

Bleudog101

They did it right, I forgot all about this Louisiana win as I'm sure many did.  WTG!

music*'s avatarmusic*

 Congratulations to this three-member family partnership from Louisiana!!  "For those that say you'll never win, well never was on October 25th!" 

 Keep on playing LP Members. A win is still possible with odds being 1:292.2 million PB

 Now with MM odds of 1:300 million  Let us show the world that an LP member can win. 

US Flag

jillybear

"That's great BUT in Pennsylvania they will reveal the members of the Trust!"

 

BUT, if they formed a limited liability company (L.L.C.) partnership, those cannot be revealed, by law.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

It's the lottery's rules that determine what happens, not what kind of legal entity a winner creates. If the state requires a real person to claim the prize and the winner's identity is made public then there is no legal entity you can create that will prevent your name from being publicized. In that case the legal entity is just a financial tool that helps you deal with what happens in the future.

Seattlejohn

I guess things are different down in Louisiana (at least, I hope they are, for their sake; hope their attorney's up to snuff).  Here in Washington State, the only way to shield the names of entity members would be to do a blind trust, as partnership documents (including names of members) are listed online.

One-Day

"Lafayette attorney Jean C. Breaux Jr. appeared at Lottery headquarters Tuesday morning with the Powerball ticket worth an estimated $191.1 million and claimed the prize via a Power of Attorney on behalf of his client, a three-member family partnership."

 

That moment when you hand out your ticket to a stranger to cash it for you...  Terrifying.  I don't think I can do it.  Power of attorney or not.

 

"I guess things are different down in Louisiana (at least, I hope they are, for their sake; hope their attorney's up to snuff).  Here in Washington State, the only way to shield the names of entity members would be to do a blind trust, as partnership documents (including names of members) are listed online."

I don't think you can shield the names by using a blind trust here in Washington.  Your name and social are required to be able to do background checks to see if you owe child support, have any debts to the government, you are not Tommy Tipton, etc.  I'm sure in the rest of the states the name and social of the winners are required too, they just don't release it; at least the handful of states that offer anonymity. 

 

In this case, I seriously doubt the winners' identities were masked; not at least to the lottery.  The winners didn't have to show up, but the names I'm sure had to be provided.  Whether that state chooses to identify them or is an anonymous state, that's a different set of 20 dollar bills.

Cunnington

I don't have enough sense now because lots of people are claiming to be the winner. How to pay all of them?

noise-gate

" The moment when you hand your ticket to a stranger to cash it for you...Terrifying. I don't think l can do that."

Right, now if you FORGOT to thoroughly vet this attorney, if you forgot to sign the back of the ticket, forgot to make copies before going by that path that took you to that statement. Then yeah! 

msharkey2001's avatarmsharkey2001

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Dec 14, 2017

 Congratulations to this three-member family partnership from Louisiana!!  "For those that say you'll never win, well never was on October 25th!" 

 Keep on playing LP Members. A win is still possible with odds being 1:292.2 million PB

 Now with MM odds of 1:300 million  Let us show the world that an LP member can win. 

US Flag

Given an infinite amount of time anything with a non zero probability will happen eventually.

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