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Woman Suing Ex After He Allegedly Dumped Her and Took $6.1-Million Winning Lotto Ticket

That would be a bummer.

This story has been updated with comment from Maurice Thibeault's lawyer Richard Pollock.

A woman is suing her former boyfriend after he allegedly fled town with a $6.1-million winning lottery ticket.

In a statement of claim provided to VICE, Denise Robertson said that she was in a two-year common-law relationship with Maurice Thibeault when he purchased a winning lottery ticket worth $6.1 million in September. Robertson is seeking half the winnings plus punitive damages. The two, as first reported by the Toronto Star, apparently bought tickets together all the time and had an agreement that they would split it if, somehow, they won—hell, they even allegedly planned out what they would do if they won.

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“They always agreed that if they had a winning ticket, the proceeds would be theirs, together as a couple,” reads the statement of claim. “Together they dreamed of winning the lottery. They both love muscle cars, they would buy one and a large property in the country and build a workshop to work on their cars.”

Well, on September 20 of last year their number was drawn, and, upon hearing that the winning ticket was sold in their area, Robertson excited texted Thibeault. However, the next day Thibeault inaccurately broke it to Robertson that they did not win.

A few days later, Thibeault told Robertson that he had to go to a work site in London, Ontario, which wasn’t too out of the norm for him. Throughout the day Robertson texted him to see if his drive was going OK and never heard back. Upon getting home from work she, as the statement of claim puts it, “was shocked to find that Maurice had packed up and removed all his clothes, his toiletries, most other personal items and his passport”—which you know is a bummer.

The next day a mutual friend told Robertson that Thibeault had the winning ticket and had already quit his job in anticipation for the millions coming his way—which is a WAY bigger bummer. Robertson had heard that Thibeault was on his way to Toronto to cash the ticket and hired some lawyers who had the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation halt payment of the ticket.

The text that Thibeault sent to his boss. Screenshot from the statement of claim.

The statement of claim takes a rather, shall we say, strong stance against Thibeault, saying he behaved with “deceit, arrogance, high-handedness, and a callous disregard for Denise and her rights.” Since they’re only disputing half of the winnings, Robertson’s lawyer, Steve Pickard, told VICE that half of the amount has already been paid out to Thibeault. On top of the winnings, Robertson and Pickard are also asking for $500,000 in punitive damages from Thibeault.

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“I think that people in general expect a certain standard from their community. It’s one thing to say she is entitled to the money in law, but it’s another to show people that they shouldn’t act this way,” said Pickard. “That is why we are going to ask for punitive damages. He did this in a really conniving sort of way, and I think the courts should send a message that you can’t act like this.”

The Toronto Star reported that friends of Thibeault said he was planning on leaving Robertson and that no such agreement to split the winnings was in place. Thibeault's lawyer, Richard Pollock, provided VICE with a statement saying, "Mr . Thibeault denies any agreement, has nothing to hide and has fully cooperated with OLGC 's investigation." The statement claims that Robertson has "not co-operated with investigators" and is "using the media to exact a settlement." It adds that Thibeault has "has voluntarily submitted to a polygraph examination, the results of which he is prepared to share to protect his reputation."

Pickard told VICE that Canadian courts haven’t seen this exact situation, but that it does parallel past cases which revolved around co-workers purchasing tickets together. In those cases past behaviour has been proven through purchase history.

“The cases show that if there is an intention when they bought the ticket to be shared than it is supposed to be shared,” said Pickard. “It’s all in the intention.”

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