Powerball winner, 90, sues her own son and says he frittered away her $278million winnings

Florida Powerball winner, 90, sues her own son for squandering her $278million winnings by hiring a talk radio host to manage her investments while charging ‘outrageous’ fees

  • Gloria Mackenzie, 90, filed the lawsuit last month in Jacksonville, Florida
  • She took home about $278 million after taxes on $590 million jackpot in 2013
  • Son Scott Mackenzie, 60, was working as an assistant manager in a shoe store
  • Suit claims Scott hired call-in radio show host Hank Madden to manage money
  • Gloria complains she was charged $2 million in fees and saw little return
  • Madden argues he simply used a conservative investment strategy 

 A 90-year-old Florida woman who won $278 million on a Powerball ticket six years ago is suing her son and his financial advisers, claiming her money went on poor investments while she was being charged $2 million in fees.

Gloria Mackenzie was widowed and living in a squalid duplex when she bought the jackpot Powerball ticket on May 18, 2013 at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Florida, after a kind stranger let her cut in line.

She filed the lawsuit against her 60-year-old son Scott Mackenzie and his financial advisors in state court in Jacksonville last month.

Scott Mackenzie had power of attorney over his mother’s finances.

Gloria Mackenzie and her son Scott are seen in 2013, leaving the Florida Lottery office after claiming a lump sum payment for the Powerball jackpot

Scott Mackenzie

Local radio show host Hank Madden

Scott Mackenzie (left) hired local radio show host Hank Madden (right) as an investment advisor for his mother for reasons that ‘escape virtually everyone,’ her lawyer said

 He was working as an assistant manager in a shoe store when she hit the jackpot, and it was reported at the time that they had agreed to split the prize, as he claimed he’d given her half of to money to buy the winning ticket.

As the wife of a mill worker, Gloria Mackenzie says she had little education in managing a large sum of money and relied on her son.

Gloria’s attorney Gregory Anderson told the Florida Times-Union that for reasons that ‘escape virtually everyone who examined this,’ Scott hired as an investment adviser called Hank Madden, who runs a local call-in radio show dispensing financial advice on Saturday mornings.

Madden charged ‘outrageous amounts and fees totally untied to any actual performance,’ Anderson claimed.

The lawsuit claims that Gloria missed out on ‘tens of millions of dollars’ in expected investment gains due to Madden’s strategy, all while paying handsome fees in excess of $2million.

Madden (far left) is seen hosting his weekly radio show, Smart Money. Madden is also a professional financial advisor with his firm Madden Advisory Services

Madden (far left) is seen hosting his weekly radio show, Smart Money. Madden is also a professional financial advisor with his firm Madden Advisory Services

Madden can be seen far left in 2013 accompanying Gloria and Scott (far right) as they visit the lottery office in 2013 to claim the Powerball jackpot

Madden can be seen far left in 2013 accompanying Gloria and Scott (far right) as they visit the lottery office in 2013 to claim the Powerball jackpot

 The suit says that Madden had never handled an account the size of the Mackenzie’s, and that prior clients had complained about him.

‘Scott failed to perform the proper due diligence to investigate and understand the person being considered to handle his mother’s nine-figure portfolio,’ the complaint states.

Scott says in court papers there’s no basis for a lawsuit just because investments didn’t grow the way his mother liked.

His attorneys said in a motion that Scott merely introduced his mother to an investment adviser who put her in ‘conservative investment vehicles, in accordance with her chosen investment objectives, and effectively preserved her wealth.’

Scott Mackenzie (above) is listed as the owner of the mansion Gloria bought with her winnings

Scott Mackenzie (above) is listed as the owner of the mansion Gloria bought with her winnings

 It is unclear how much of Gloria’s fortune still remains.

In 2013, she purchased a 6,300-square-foot, five-bedroom home in the Glen Kernan Country Club for $1.2 million.

The deed to the home was transferred to her daughter and trustee Melinda MacKenzie in June 2013, but records now show it listed under her son’s name.

After hitting the jackpot, Gloria also offered to donate $2 million to fix the roof of a high school in her hometown in Maine.

According to Anderson, Scott ‘banished’ Gloria from the country club mansion, and she is currently living with another one of her children in Jacksonville.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk