A man who alleges he bought both winning tickets in a nearly $400 million lottery jackpot but lost the second ticket and still wants to collect the other half of the money is asking a judge to deny a bid by a woman making her own claim to become a party in the case.
Faramarz Lahijani states in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that he was granted 50% of the $394 million from the Dec. 8, 2023, Mega Millions grand prize. He says both tickets were bought at a Chevron station on Ventura Boulevard in Encino, and that Lahijani used the same numbers he has been playing for 30 years, which were chosen by his children: 21, 26, 53, 66, 70 and the mega number, 13.
On Friday, Lahijani’s attorneys filed court papers with Judge Lia Martin asking that Cheryl Wilson’s complaint in intervention be denied. Wilson, who is representing herself, says in a sworn declaration that she bought the winning ticket and is entitled to $97.4 million even though she admits she no longer has the “physical” ticket.
“I am informed and believe that the California Lottery maintains records capable of identifying the purchaser and validating ownership through retailer verification, signature, timing and transaction data,” Wilson says, while adding that she is willing to talk about a settlement rather than go to trial.
But in their court papers, Lahijani’s attorneys state that their client is entitled to the second half of the jackpot because he submitted the first winning ticket and that the jackpot he received for the ticket he presented should not have been split in half.
On the other hand, Wilson wants to intervene on the basis that she allegedly purchased the unclaimed ticket and that her unnamed former employer took it from her, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys’ court papers.
“She did not submit a matching ticket,” Lahijani’s lawyers say of Wilson. “She relies solely upon her allegation of having owned the lost, unclaimed ticket. The regulations entitling plaintiff to recovery do not apply to (Wilson).”
Even if Wilson bought the unclaimed ticket as she contends, the lottery rules state that the physical ticket must be presented in a timely fashion to claim a Mega Millions jackpot and now that time has expired, according to the plaintiff’s attorneys’ court papers.
Wilson’s motion to intervene is scheduled to be heard Jan. 23, the same date California Lottery attorneys will seek to have Lahijani’s lawsuit dismissed.
“Payment of a Mega Millions prize without the submission of a valid winning ticket is expressly barred by the Mega Millions game Rules and by applicable California statutes and regulations,” the state Attorney General’s Office states in its court papers.
In Lahijani’s case, he admits that he cannot provide the second ticket and that the deadline to do so has passed, according to the attorney general’s court papers.
Lahijani brought the breach of contract suit in December 2024 and filed a claim with the lottery commission two days earlier. Lahijani’s suit, which seeks the remaining $197 million, states that he is the only winner because “by virtue of his having timely submitted the first matching ticket, plaintiff is entitled to the entirety of the jackpot.”