Powerball jackpot: Factory winners at war after boss says he was left out of syndicate

A LIVERPOOL factory where a group of workers won a $40 million jackpot is at war after one of their ­bosses has claimed he is being left out of his share — and now he’s taking legal action.

• No more overtime for 14 factory workers who scooped $40m Powerball
• ‘Lotto Lout’ Michael Carroll offers advice to new lottery millionaires

A LIVERPOOL factory where a group of workers won a $40 million jackpot is at war after one of their ­bosses has claimed he is being left out of his share.

A boss at the factory — who says he has been shut out of the winnings — has claimed the registered ticket holder replaced one of the members with his own son, who does not work at the factory.

Prysmian senior manager Brendon King, who claims he has been denied his share, will start legal action in court tomorrow, saying he was “excluded” from the winning syndicate.

Prysmian Cables & Systems in Liverpool, where the lottery winners all work. Picture: Melvyn Knipe.

Shine Lawyers NSW commercial litigation and insolvency practice leader, Luke Whiffen, said his client would make his claim at the NSW Supreme Court tomorrow for his share — one fifteenth of the winnings, totaling $2.7 million.

“We have concerns that a son of the registered ticket holder, who is not an employee of the company where the work syndicate was run, appears to have been included in the winning syndicate. We are making further investigations into this” Mr Whiffen said.

“This was a long running work syndicate and our client is the only member who has been excluded from this winning syndicate.

“We are aware that other syndicate members are upset by the way the registered ticket holder is treating our client.”

The Daily Telegraph revealed tensions are running so high that production manager Mr King is now working offsite.

The winnings are due to be paid out on Thursday, but the senior manager at cable manufacturer Prysmian Group has indicated he ­intends to seek a delay in the release of the funds if a ­resolution is not reached.

The winning ticket was bought at The Mall Newsagency in Campbelltown.

Mr King’s lawyers are ­adamant that their client paid for his ticket.

The Daily Telegraph ­understands an attempt to ­mediate the dispute between Mr King and some of his staff is not progressing well.

One syndicate member has already left his job in ­anticipation of the payout.

And Mr King will be ­working offsite until the ­incident is resolved.

Prysmian Group spokesman David Klarich said the company was treating the incident as a personal matter.

“As far as the company is concerned this is a personal matter between employees concerned, but they are doing their best to assist us,” he said.

Many were tight-lipped about the dispute yesterday, but some said that they found Mr King’s actions hard to ­believe.

“Everyone’s talking about it,” one worker said.

The winnings are due to be paid out on Thursday.

Mr King was contacted by The Daily Telegraph, but ­declined to comment.

In an anonymous statement last week released through Shine Lawyers, he said that he was devastated.

“I have worked with these gentlemen for five years and when they’ve fallen on tough times, either at work or at home, I have supported them,” the statement said.

“I hope that this will all be cleared up quickly and that all the members in the syndicate receive their fair share.”

The winning ticket was bought at The Mall Newsagency in Campbelltown in Sydney’s southwest.

The total prize draw was $40,445,165, with the syndicate said to have been made up of 14 people.