Sunday, 18 November 2018

New York Powerball Winner Wants to Avoid the Pitfalls of Instant Wealth

Robert Bailey from Harlem, New York was the winner of the state’s largest lottery jackpot. The lucky man plans to do the right thing with his newly gained fortune and take care of it for his children.

The 67-year-old retired civil servant won USD$343.8 million in the Powerball drawing on 27th October. He has decided to receive his winnings in a lump sum, which means he’s taking home more than USD$125.3 million after taxes. It is said that he had been playing the same five numbers for over 25 years.

Bailey revealed in a press conference that he had already got in touch with a lawyer and financial advisor to look into how to manage his sudden windfall.

“I still want to be me; I can’t let money change me. But I want to do the right thing and take care of it for the next generation in my family,” he said. “That’s why I went to a lawyer and a financial adviser first and sat down with them and talked business.”

Bailey said he wanted to buy a house for his mother, travel and “make good investments” with his winnings. He also had a few charities in mind that he wanted to donate to.

The man said he would have chosen to stay anonymous if the New York State law was not forbidding lottery winners from collecting their winnings privately.

“But you have to watch out for your safety, that’s the main thing,” Bailey added. “With any type of money, and this type of money also.”

Jason Kurland, a New York attorney who previously had provided service to lottery winners, said: “The biggest mistake I see is people who try to do this on their own right from the get-go. Those are the ones who put themselves out in the open, who can’t limit their exposure, and are now an easy target for people, whether it’s a bogus charity coming to you or someone with an investment that’s a [supposed] no-lose situation.”