Maine’s $1.35 Billion Mega Millions Winner Must Reveal Identity in Suit Against Ex, Court Rules

Posted on: April 18, 2025, 10:27h. 

Last updated on: April 18, 2025, 11:06h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • Judge denies anonymity in lottery winner’s lawsuit​
  • Ex-girlfriend accused of breaching confidentiality agreement​
  • Winner seeks $100K per unauthorized disclosure

The currently anonymous winner of the $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot of January 2023 sued the mother of his child in November 2023, claiming that she violated a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) when she told his dad and stepmom about the win.

Mega Millions winner lawsuit, Maine lottery winner, $1.35 billion jackpot, NDA breach, anonymity legal battle
“John Doe’s” $1.35 billion jackpot was the fourth biggest in lottery history at the time he won it in January 2023. (Image: The Guardian)

The plaintiff and defendant are referred to in court documents pseudonymously as “John Doe” and “Sara Smith,” respectively.

Loose Lips

The plaintiff is asking the court for an injunction preventing Smith from disclosing any further information about the jackpot. He also wants the court to order Smith to list everyone she told and pay compensatory damages of “an amount to be determined at trial, but no less than $100K per unauthorized disclosure.”

The NDA was put in place to “promote the safety and security of John Doe, defendant, and their daughter, and to avoid the irreparable harm” of allowing the media or public to discover who they were and where they lived, according to the lawsuit.

Maine is one of a handful of states that allows lottery winners to claim prizes anonymously. But the privilege doesn’t extend to lottery winners who are suing their exes, according to US District Judge John Woodcock.

Woodcock on Thursday denied Doe’s request for a closed trial, saying that it would run “hard against [the] historic concept of what the courts are and what they are not in this country.”

While the judge expressed sympathy for the plaintiff’s safety concerns, he added that “wealth alone is not a legitimate reason to restrict the right of public access.”

Facts Disputed

In recently filed documents in the case, both Smith and the man’s father claim that Doe himself told his parents about the win. Doe also demanded his father no longer speak to Smith, which caused the two men to fall out.

I told him… ‘You are not the son I knew,’” claimed the father in court documents. “He got angry, calling me a ‘dictator’ and an ‘a***hole.’ I have not heard from my son since, and he has not done any of [the] things he promised.”

Smith alleges in a court filing that Doe has hired a security team that allegedly follows her and her daughter around daily.

She has also claimed that the lawsuit is a ruse to pressure her into handing over custody of her daughter to her ex.