A lottery winner who saw her dreams come true when she scooped a massive $18million (£14million) jackpot in the Illinois lottery back in 1993 was forced to file for bankruptcy less than a decade later after failed investments and huge charitable donations led to gambling and credit card debt.
Janite Lee was 60 years old at the time, won the impressive sum. The prize money was divided into 20 annual payments of $620,000 (£487,000), which she generously spent on humanitarian causes. Lee, who owned a wig shop, had moved to the United States from South Korea with her husband and three stepchildren in the 1970s.
For the eight years after her win, Lee lived the high life, dining with politicians including then-President Bill Clinton. However, after a decade filled with generous donations, credit card debt and some gambling, Lee lost her fortune.
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Lee was reportedly millions of dollars in debt less than a decade after winning the huge prize (Getty Images)A large part of this is reported to be down to her links with the University of Washington, where she donated millions which was used to construct a library with a reading room in the law school which was later named in her honour, The Sun reports.
Taking an interest in politics, Lee also made substantial donations to the Democrats after applying to be the luncheon chairwoman for a local fund-raising event for President Clinton. Supported by campaign checks of £76,000 ($100,000) to the Democratic National Committee, her application was successful.
At the luncheon, Lee sat next to Clinton and was approached by Missouri Democrats for campaign donations. It is understood that over the next three years she went on to donate a total of £210,000 ($277,000) to several candidates, including £1,500 ($2,000) to Hillary Clinton.
As well as this, over a three-year period, she gifted £64,000 ($84,000) to Representative Richard Gephardt and £7,600 ($10,000) to Jay Nixon, Missouri's Attorney General. Alongside the Democrats, she also donated £114,000 ($150,000) to the federal government intended for the unemployed and the Korean community.
Lee had a prominent profile within the Korean-American community in St. Louis - she purchased a house in North County with plans to turn it into a private club for them, but these plans were never fully implemented and she eventually sold the property.
Lee made a number of donations with her winnings which saw her get a reading room named after her at Washington University in St. Louis (Washington University)In turn, The St. Louis church community and a local Korean church, also benefitted from Lee's generosity. Following the unexpected passing of the Korean church's pastor, Lee covered the funeral costs and gave the family an additional £23,000 ($30,000).
However, almost a decade after her big win she began to face financial difficulty, prompted by a penalty of £570,000 ($750,000) for prepayment of a loan. She opted for a lump sum payment of her winnings, and according to court documents, she used nearly $5million from her 1999 and 2000 winnings to clear debts and mortgages.
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Alongside this, an unfortunate investment in a failed restaurant led to gambling and credit card debt which appeared to signal the end of her fortune. Court records show that in one year alone, she lost almost $350,000 at various casinos and had accumulated $37,000 in credit card debt.
By July 2001, Lee was forced to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after failing to keep up with loan and car repayments. It's believed that when she declared bankruptcy, she had just $700 to her name and was in debt to the tune of $2.5million.
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