Lusaka, April 18 [The US Sun] – A couple who were down to their last $24 when they won a $13m jackpot admitted that the money “tore them apart.”
In 1990, Alex and Rhoda Toth’s life changed overnight when they won the Florida Lottery and opted to take their winnings in installments, pocketing $666,666 annually until 2010.
“It is a lot of money,” Alex said at the time, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “It creates a lot of pressure on you.”
The Toths wasted no time splurging their wealth on gifts, flying in private jets across the world and meeting celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to Donald Trump.
The couple spent heavily on a three-month trip to Las Vegas, which included stays in a $1,000-a-night penthouse suite at the Mirage, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Back in Florida, they purchased 10 acres of land.
Alex – who had six kids from past relationships – blew away much of his winnings in gambling. Unlike some lotto winners, Alex never hired an accountant to deal with his taxes.
When the payments were being made, their taxes were being withheld, according to court documents.
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And, a decade after turning over that life-changing ticket, the family filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and 2002.
Alex and Rhoda ended up owing the IRS $2.5m in unpaid taxes and were eventually charged with tax fraud in 2006.
In total, Rhoda owed the government $1.1m and her husband owed $1.4m.
Rhoda was quoted as saying that the money has “torn us apart” and caused rifts with friends and family members, leading to a lawsuit between her and her son, Steven Moser, in 1996.
“Sometimes I wish we could give it back,” she was quoted saying.
In 1996, Rhoda pleaded with a Florida judge for protection from her son and his then-girlfriend, claiming they threatened to kill her and the family dog and burn down their home and cars.
“Someone is going to get hurt if it does not stop,” Rhoda wrote in her plea to the court in 1996.
By 2006, the former millionaire couple was living in squalid conditions in Florida, with their only source of electricity powering their home coming through an extension cord rigged to their car engine.
They eventually separated the following year after Alex went to a medical facility to be treated for mental problems, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
In 2008, Alex died from a heart attack at the age of 60, broke and living off social security benefits.
He died before he went on trial for tax fraud. Rhoda was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to two years in prison.
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