I won $2 million in the lottery, my boyfriend and my parents sued me for the entire jackpot – the judge’s full verdict

A WOMAN who bought a scratch-off lottery ticket won millions but quickly faced lawsuits from those closest to her.

Orly Elinor Assa-Eliahu was sued by her parents Malca and Nisan Assa-Eliahu and now ex-boyfriend Lionel Nathaniel Cohen after she accidentally bought a $2 million lottery ticket.

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The Ontario, Canada resident snagged the Scratch and Win ticket on the evening of June 23, 2013 and quickly realized she had won big CanLII connects.

The ticket was bought spontaneously because Assa-Eliahu had gone to the supermarket that evening to use her EC card to buy cigarettes for her parents.

She was with Cohen too, but he didn’t pay for the cigarettes or the ticket.

After Assa-Eliahu and her boyfriend scratched the ticket in the car, she ran back inside and signed the back of the ticket as the only winner.

While Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) officials were called to say someone had stolen the winning ticket, Cohen also called Assa-Eliahu’s parents to let them know their daughter had won.

“She has the winner,” said Cohen official court records.

Cohen had met Assa-Eliahu through internet dating and had been living with her parents for some time while they continued their relationship.

In court, lawyers representing Assa-Eliahu said she allegedly showed a greater desire to marry than Cohen before winning.

Having achieved significant financial gains, Cohen “by this point showed a much greater interest in marrying Orly than he had shown before winning the lottery,” they argued.

After winning, the couple took a trip to Las Vegas, and Cohen proposed, which Assa-Eliahu accepted.

However, the lottery winner quickly suspected that Cohen had cheated on her and flirted with other women during her trip.

When they returned to Ontario, Assa-Eliahu decided that she wanted a prenuptial arrangement with Cohen, and he declined.

They then broke up and Cohen sued for a portion of the lottery winnings.

Assa-Eliahu’s parents did the same, claiming that the entire $2 million pot was theirs because their daughter bought the ticket with her debit card.

The court ultimately ruled that neither Cohen’s claims nor those of the parents were valid.

Cohen had not contributed to the purchase of the ticket, his name was not mentioned in any formal correspondence, and he had no prior agreement with Assa-Eliahu prior to purchasing the ticket.

He was also not in the photo taken in the OLG offices to celebrate Assa-Eliahu’s victory, the court noted.

The ex-boyfriend allegedly “exaggerated his devotion to Orly” and lacked credibility in his portrayal of events.

The parents were also denied the money, although they had bought the ticket with their card.

In its ruling, the court said the ticket was a “modest” addition to Assa-Eliahu’s purchase of the cigarettes and had not been discussed beforehand.

After Assa-Eliahu redeemed the ticket and deposited the money into her personal bank account, she also granted her parents $350,000 to pay off their home mortgage.

Malca and Nisan Assa-Eliahu watched their daughter spend her winnings however she wanted for nearly a year before concluding the entire amount could be theirs, the court noted.

“Your lawsuit was, I believe, fabricated primarily for the purpose of protecting the lottery winnings from Lionel’s claims,” ​​the judge stated.

After deliberation, Assa-Eliahu was able to keep all of her winnings in the case, but relations between her parents and her ex-boyfriend likely suffered as a result.

For more related content, check out the US Sun’s coverage of a father and son recently convicted of about $20 million in illegal lottery winnings.

The US Sun also reports on a lottery expert’s thoughts on why winners always receive the lump sum instead of annual payments.

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