$40m Powerball claimant grilled over entitlement to syndicate share

Brendan King, from Liverpool, pictured, says he is entitled to a share of the Powerball jackpot because of his involvement with the winning syndicate.

Brendan King leaves the Supreme Court, he's been accused of running a media campaign in a bid to gain a portion of a $40 million lottery jackpot. Picture: John Grainger

THE father at the centre of a multi-million dollar lottery dispute is owed just $12, a court was told today.

Liverpool factory worker Brendan King was grilled for hours at the Supreme Court of NSW about his involvement in a syndicate run by his former colleague, Robert Adams.

Two tickets were bought for the $40 million Powerball Jackpot on May 5.

One ticket scored the $40 million Jackpot and the other won just $12.

Syndicate leader Robert Adams leaving Supreme Court today.

Mr King agreed he was given a ticket before the draw which won the $12 sum but alleges he was also entitled to a $2.8 million share of the Jackpot because of his involvement in the syndicate.

Mr Adam’s defence lawyer Matthew Lee told the court Mr King had run a “media campaign” in a bid to force the syndicate members to settle outside of court.

Under cross examination Mr King was accused of giving false evidence and launching a media smear campaign against Robert Adams.

Mr Lee told the court he gave false evidence to journalists to pressure his client into settling the case through a payment.

Me King denied the allegations.

The hearing is expected to continue for five days.

Previously

Earlier this year, 14 Sydney factory workers couldn’t believe their luck when they won the $40 million Powerball jackpot.

Each entrant in the syndicate was set for an impressive $2.85 million split of the total $40,445,165 prize draw.

“After I checked our ticket and saw that we had all the winning numbers, the phone calls were flying around — my phone was ringing like mad,” Mr Adams said.

“Everyone was calling everyone about the win — it was crazy!

The Prysmian factory in Liverpool in which the syndicate all worked.

“Some of the syndicate members were shaking, others told me they had goosebumps. One of the guys even said his hair was standing on end and his face was tingling from the shock of it all.”

But in the space of a week, that syndicate turned sour, with claims that one of its members had been squeezed out of the group, with lawyers for the anonymous winner claiming he had been “wrongfully excluded” from his share of the prize.

And then it turned ugly.

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