Powerball lottery winner took home a $27million jackpot,but after 5 years he was homeless.
Jacob Willeford
Published: 12:41 ET, Apr 17 2023Updated: 13:36 ET, Apr 12 2023
A MAN who had won the Powerball lottery in the early 2000s spent all of his winnings and lived in a storage shed before his death.
David Lee Edwards, a convicted felon from Ashland, Kentucky, won a one-quarter share, about $27 million after taxes, from the Powerball jackpot of $280 million during August 2001.
At the time, the jackpot was the third-biggest in US lottery history, per the Lexington Herald Leader.
Not long after the lucky draw, Edwards quickly married Shawna Maddux in Malibu, California, and quickly went to work spending his newfound fortune.
The massive purchases included a mansion within a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, along with over a dozen expensive cars, and even a private LearJet, per the Courier-Journal.
Only five years later in 2006, drug addiction and over-spending left Edwards and Maddux penniless and housed in a storage shed allegedly covered in human feces.
Maddux soon left and re-married. Eventually, she and her second husband took Edwards in before putting him into hospice care during the early 2010s.
Then, in 2013, Edwards died at the age of 58.
By the end of his life, Edwards had lost all of the $27 million jackpot he had won in 2001 and even owed friends and business partners thousands.
The purchases that the lottery winner made after earning his cash were immediate and massive.
One of the first big buys came from a 6,000-square-foot house in a private tennis and golf community in Palm Beach Gardens, which cost $1.6 million, per Daily Mail.
However, that wasn't the only home purchase, as Edwards spent $600,000 for another house nearby.
Although his private LearJet cost more — he paid $1.9 million for the airplane before spending another $4.5 million on a fiber optics installation company and a limo business.
It didn't stop there either, as Edwards was a fan of luxury cars, so he bought a $90,000 Dodge Viper and a $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo to add to his collection.
At one point, Edwards had $1 million of cars in his driveway alone.
Other purchases were made on several high-end items, including faux antiques and armor.
Edwards even paid $500,000 to his first ex-wife and her husband for custody of his then-teenage daughter, Tiffani.
Overall, Edwards spent $3 million of his $27 million just three months after winning and $12 million in the first year, according to estimates.
Interestingly, on the same day Edwards publicly declared his winnings in 2001, he promised to spend the money well to create intergenerational wealth for his family.
"You know, a lot of people, they're out of work. Doesn't have hardly anything," he told news outlets at the time.
"And so I didn't want to accept this money by saying I'm going to get mansions and I'm going to get cars, I'm going to do this and that. I would like to accept it with humility."
"I want this money to last, for me, for my future wife, for my daughter, and future generations," Edwards continued.
Nevertheless, by 2006, the fortune was gone — Edwards and Shawna had multiple confrontations with law enforcement due to possession of crack cocaine, prescription pills, and heroin, per the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Both contracted hepatitis from using intravenous needles for drugs and were arrested on several occasions.
Aside from the drug addiction, if Edwards had made different choices with his money, things could have ended up very differently for the winner and his family, according to financial planner James Gibbs.
"If he followed my advice, he'd be pulling in about $85,000 a month for the rest of his life," Gibbs told the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
For more on the lottery, check out The U.S. Sun's coverage of a man who won $38.5 million alongside friends but had to go to a lawyer after lies from their coworker.
www.the-sun.com
The U.S. Sun also has the story of a lottery winner that gained $16.2 million but found himself $1 million in debt one year later.
Why do lottery winners buy the moist exotic shyt like the got the residual income to fukking keep up with it most times they go broke because they think they fukking celebrities?
A private jet bruh where the fukk you going who meeting you what deal you got on the table people are fukking idiots.
Nice normal house here.
Jacob Willeford
Published: 12:41 ET, Apr 17 2023Updated: 13:36 ET, Apr 12 2023
A MAN who had won the Powerball lottery in the early 2000s spent all of his winnings and lived in a storage shed before his death.
David Lee Edwards, a convicted felon from Ashland, Kentucky, won a one-quarter share, about $27 million after taxes, from the Powerball jackpot of $280 million during August 2001.
At the time, the jackpot was the third-biggest in US lottery history, per the Lexington Herald Leader.
Not long after the lucky draw, Edwards quickly married Shawna Maddux in Malibu, California, and quickly went to work spending his newfound fortune.
The massive purchases included a mansion within a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, along with over a dozen expensive cars, and even a private LearJet, per the Courier-Journal.
Only five years later in 2006, drug addiction and over-spending left Edwards and Maddux penniless and housed in a storage shed allegedly covered in human feces.
Maddux soon left and re-married. Eventually, she and her second husband took Edwards in before putting him into hospice care during the early 2010s.
Then, in 2013, Edwards died at the age of 58.
By the end of his life, Edwards had lost all of the $27 million jackpot he had won in 2001 and even owed friends and business partners thousands.
The purchases that the lottery winner made after earning his cash were immediate and massive.
One of the first big buys came from a 6,000-square-foot house in a private tennis and golf community in Palm Beach Gardens, which cost $1.6 million, per Daily Mail.
However, that wasn't the only home purchase, as Edwards spent $600,000 for another house nearby.
Although his private LearJet cost more — he paid $1.9 million for the airplane before spending another $4.5 million on a fiber optics installation company and a limo business.
It didn't stop there either, as Edwards was a fan of luxury cars, so he bought a $90,000 Dodge Viper and a $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo to add to his collection.
At one point, Edwards had $1 million of cars in his driveway alone.
Other purchases were made on several high-end items, including faux antiques and armor.
Edwards even paid $500,000 to his first ex-wife and her husband for custody of his then-teenage daughter, Tiffani.
Overall, Edwards spent $3 million of his $27 million just three months after winning and $12 million in the first year, according to estimates.
Interestingly, on the same day Edwards publicly declared his winnings in 2001, he promised to spend the money well to create intergenerational wealth for his family.
"You know, a lot of people, they're out of work. Doesn't have hardly anything," he told news outlets at the time.
"And so I didn't want to accept this money by saying I'm going to get mansions and I'm going to get cars, I'm going to do this and that. I would like to accept it with humility."
"I want this money to last, for me, for my future wife, for my daughter, and future generations," Edwards continued.
Nevertheless, by 2006, the fortune was gone — Edwards and Shawna had multiple confrontations with law enforcement due to possession of crack cocaine, prescription pills, and heroin, per the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Both contracted hepatitis from using intravenous needles for drugs and were arrested on several occasions.
Aside from the drug addiction, if Edwards had made different choices with his money, things could have ended up very differently for the winner and his family, according to financial planner James Gibbs.
"If he followed my advice, he'd be pulling in about $85,000 a month for the rest of his life," Gibbs told the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
For more on the lottery, check out The U.S. Sun's coverage of a man who won $38.5 million alongside friends but had to go to a lawyer after lies from their coworker.
Powerball lottery winner took home $27m jackpot but after 5 years was penniless
A MAN who had won the Powerball lottery in the early 2000s spent all of his winnings and lived in a storage shed before his death. David Lee Edwards, a convicted felon from Ashland, Kentucky, won a…
www.the-sun.com
Why do lottery winners buy the moist exotic shyt like the got the residual income to fukking keep up with it most times they go broke because they think they fukking celebrities?
A private jet bruh where the fukk you going who meeting you what deal you got on the table people are fukking idiots.
Nice normal house here.
nikka loss from the start QUICKLY GOT MARRIED and bought a Learjet
but he was just reckless spending too much... 
