After North Carolina resident Marie Holmes won $188 million from her portion of a Powerball jackpot last February, things were looking up for the financially struggling mother of 4. As one of the 64 million Americans (about 35% of U.S. population) that have trouble paying their bills each year, she decided to take her winnings in a lump sum. This ended up being about $88 million after taxes.
Unfortunately for Holmes, the story didn’t end there. According to the website theroot.com, soon after receiving the money Holmes posted $3 million bail for her fiance, Lamarr McDow, who had been arrested on a heroin trafficking charge.
Less than six months later McDow was arrested again this time for breaking the curfew guidelines of his pretrial release, according to local Channel 3 news affiliate WWAY-TV. This time his bail was set at $6 million and again presumably paid for by Holmes, WWAY-TV reported after some social media investigation.
Coming into a substantial amount of money can be a blessing and a curse. It can help improve your life, but at the same time it is important to make sound and rational choices with how and why you spend it. The money may seem unlimited, but things always have a way of catching up to you if you let them.
For her part Holmes has defended herself from recent criticism she’s received from these incidents. She posted the follow from her Facebook account:
“What y’all need to be worried about is y’all money and not how I spend mine this is benefiting y’all how? And no he’s no drug dealer or user but who are y’all to judge anybody? I will definitely pray for y’all because it’s much need [sic] … they talked about Jesus so I’m not surprised y’all are talking about me but be blessed though.”