Lottery Winner Misses Out On Full $394M Jackpot After Losing 2nd Ticket

LOS ANGELES, CA — A man who claimed he bought both winning tickets in a $394 million California Lottery drawing — but lost one of the two tickets he bought — was unable to convince a judge that the state should hand over the other half of the winnings despite the missing ticket.

Faramarz Lahijani claimed he bought two tickets for the Mega Millions jackpot in December 2023 at a Chevron station on Ventura Boulevard in Encino, using the same numbers he has for the last three decades.

The lottery confirmed that both winning tickets for that drawing had the numbers 21, 26, 53, 66, 70 and the Mega Ball number 13 and that they were both sold at the Chevron. At the time, lottery officials said they were unsure if such a situation had occurred before.

Lahijani publicly stepped forward with one ticket the following summer and collected the first prize, valued at $197.5 million. He said nothing about the second ticket at the time, the New York Post reported.

Months later — three days before the deadline to claim the prize — Lahijani submitted a claim for the second prize despite being unable to produce the other winning ticket. He filed a lawsuit two days later.

In his lawsuit, Lahijani claimed he was the sole rightful winner because "by virtue of his having timely submitted the first matching ticket, plaintiff is entitled to the entirety of the jackpot."

But because he admitted to losing the second ticket, he was unable to claim the remaining $197.5 million, a judge ruled.

"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 lottery attorney stated in his court paper.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge on Friday granted the California Lottery's motion to dismiss the case. The judge found that Lahijani failed to demonstrate he had a contract requiring the lottery to pay unclaimed winnings or cite a specific law mandating such payment.

Another person had also claimed she was the one who bought the second ticket.

Cheryl Wilson, who represented herself, filed a complaint in intervention in the lawsuit. She said in a sworn declaration that she bought the winning ticket and was entitled to $97.4 million even though she admitted that 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 said in her court papers, while adding that she was willing to negotiate a settlement rather than go to trial.

In his ruling, Judge Rolf M. Treu noted that Wilson contended that in addition to being the winning ticket's original purchaser and had signed it, she also maintained that the ticket was subsequently stolen by a former employer.

"Allowing intervention on the facts asserted in by Wilson would transform this action into a wide-ranging dispute over alleged theft, fraud, conspiracy and Wilson's contractual rights," the judge wrote.

City News Service contributed to this report.