A man who purchased one of two jackpot-winning Mega Millions tickets is suing the California Lottery in hopes of securing the full payout, claiming he actually purchased both tickets but lost one.
Faramarz Lahijani filed the suit last week in hopes of being awarded the full $395 million jackpot. He came forward in June to claim the $197 million winnings from one of the tickets, but the outstanding ticket remained unclaimed all the way up to its expiration date.
The tickets were purchased in December 2023 at the same gas station in Encino. Lahijani says he bought both.
His attorneys filed a breach of contract suit on his behalf, alleging that there was sufficient evidence to deduce that he was the rightful owner of the missing ticket and that his claim was submitted in time to receive the payout.
On Wednesday, criminal defense attorney and KTLA legal analyst Alison Triessl weighed in on Lahijani’s suit and whether or not he has a case.
“This is a head scratcher to me, because part of the story makes a lot of sense,” Triessl said on KTLA Off the Clock. “Another part doesn’t make sense.”
For one, the odds of winning one Mega Millions jackpot, let alone two, are astronomical.
“The chances of winning a Mega Millions jackpot, just so we’re clear, is one in 300 million people,” Triessl said. “We’re talking fractions of fractions.”
But the fact that the winning tickets were sold at the same store, something lottery officials said has never happened before, might actually support his claim. But the California Lottery isn’t going to agree to hand over nearly $200 million on the basis of what may have happened.
“The probability that somebody buys the exact same ticket, uses the same numbers at the same store in December of 2023 you know, was it probably him? But that’s not enough. You need evidence,” Triessl said.
Lahijani did submit the paperwork to claim the winnings, sans ticket, three days prior to the deadline, but it appears that wasn’t enough for the California Lottery.
It’s unclear why he waited until the zero hour to submit his claim for the second ticket, whether he was still searching for the missing ticket or if it’s simply a gambit to get both halves of the jackpot.
But Triessl said he probably would’ve been better off coming forward much sooner.
“If you don’t have the ticket, what about video that day? Why did you submit one ticket in June and then wait until three days before the other expired to file the claim?”
Triessel said she isn’t discounting Lahijani, especially if, as he says, he always uses the same numbers for each drawing. But he will simply need to present some form of evidence to back up his claim if he wants to prevail in the suit.
“He needs more than just saying, ‘Oh, by the way, I also had the other ticket,'” Triessl said.
If future lottery winners find themselves in similar situations, like the winner of a 2018 Super Lotto jackpot who missed out on $63 million, Triessl suggests taking photos to document the win to add some weight behind their claims.
“If you’ve lost the ticket … take a picture of the front and the back with your signature. Claim that you’ve lost the ticket and then they go through this entire process,” Triessl said.
Jackpot winners can claim their prize by either visiting one of the California Lottery’s nine district offices or mailing a completed claim form to its headquarters in Sacramento postmarked before the expiration date. If choosing to go the mail route, lottery officials recommend using certified mail.
If Lahijani is denied the second half of the December 2023 Mega Millions jackpot, and if no one else mailed in their claim prior to the deadline, the prize money will be allocated to public education in California, in accordance with state lottery regulations.
In the 2023-24 fiscal year, proceeds from California Lottery games contributed over $2 billion to public education in the state.
A California Lottery spokesperson told KTLA last week that it would “not be appropriate” to comment on the active lawsuit.
