David Lee Edwards: From $27 Million Powerball Winner to Dying in Debt
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David Lee Edwards: From $27 Million Powerball Winner to Dying in Debt
In August 2001, ex-convict David Lee Edwards won $27 million in the Powerball lottery. Within just three months, he had spent $3 million — and $12 million was gone by the end of the first year.
He quickly married his girlfriend, Shawna Maddox, in Malibu and bought a $1.6 million mansion in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, plus another nearby property for $600,000. He splurged on luxury cars like a $90,000 Dodge Viper, a $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo, and even purchased a private LearJet for $1.9 million.
Trying to grow his fortune, Edwards invested $4.5 million in a fiber-optic company and a limousine business. He also paid $500,000 to his ex-wife and her husband for custody of his daughter Tiffany. But much of the money was lost to heavy drug use.
By 2006, the money was gone. Shawna left him, only to later take him in again — along with her new husband. Eventually, Edwards ended up in hospice care after contracting hepatitis from intravenous drug use. He died in 2013 at age 58, broke and in debt.
In August 2001, ex-convict David Lee Edwards won $27 million in the Powerball lottery. Within just three months, he had spent $3 million — and $12 million was gone by the end of the first year.
He quickly married his girlfriend, Shawna Maddox, in Malibu and bought a $1.6 million mansion in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, plus another nearby property for $600,000. He splurged on luxury cars like a $90,000 Dodge Viper, a $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo, and even purchased a private LearJet for $1.9 million.
Trying to grow his fortune, Edwards invested $4.5 million in a fiber-optic company and a limousine business. He also paid $500,000 to his ex-wife and her husband for custody of his daughter Tiffany. But much of the money was lost to heavy drug use.
By 2006, the money was gone. Shawna left him, only to later take him in again — along with her new husband. Eventually, Edwards ended up in hospice care after contracting hepatitis from intravenous drug use. He died in 2013 at age 58, broke and in debt.