A man who claims he bought both winning tickets for a $394 million Mega Millions jackpot but lost one is suing the California Lottery.
Faramarz Lahijani says he purchased both tickets at an Encino gas station in December 2023 and was able to claim half of the cash prize from one of the winning tickets back in June.
But when he realised he had lost the second ticket, he submitted a claim for it on December 4, just three days before it expired.
The wining numbers from the December 2023 draw were 21, 26, 53, 66, 70, and Mega Ball 13.
California Lottery officials had said that it was only possible for the tickets with matching numbers to be purchased in separate transactions.
The lawsuit seeks the remaining $197 million that comprised the rest of the total jackpot from the December 2024 draw, claiming that there is enough evidence to prove that Lahijani purchased both winning tickets.
DailyMail.com has reached out to California Lottery for comment.
If the winner happens to be someone other than Lahijani, they have until Saturday to claim their prize.
A man who claims he bought both winning tickets for a $394 million Mega Millions jackpot but lost lost one is suing the California Lottery. Pictured: Gas station in Encino, California where the man claims to have bought both tickets
A person holds up their Mega Millions lottery tickets
But if the winner lets the ticket expire, or of Lahijani's suit is dismissed, the prize money will be allocated to public education in California.
According to MoneyWise, it can take six to eight weeks for a lottery winner to be paid out, but it could take loner as the California Lottery processes more than 10,000 claims per month.
It comes after spokesperson for the lottery Carolyn Becker said in a press release that the lottery prize had not yet been collected, saying: 'We would love to see the rightful winner get their prize money. My hypothesis and hope is that the winner never knows.'
Additionally, twelve tickets matched the four white balls and the Mega Ball to win the game's third-tier prize.
Two of those tickets were worth $30,000 each since the 3X Megaplier was applied in the drawing.
The other 10 third-tier winning tickets are worth $10,000 each, and 715,952 players also walked away with smaller cash prizes.
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Mega Millions ticket holders nationwide have a 1 in 302,575,350 chance of winning the jackpot.
Lottery officials were stunned to find out there were two jackpot winners who purchased their tickets from the same gas station last year.
'While this is incredibly unusual and interesting, it's not unheard of,' Becker said in a 2023 press release.
'There are any number of explanations; perhaps one person wanted to try their luck on two different rows for whatever reason, or maybe a couple of buddies wanted to try their chances with the same exact numbers.'
Becker added that lottery officials will never know what happened until a ticket holder comes forward and claims their prize.
'Only legitimate winners know the answers to some of our most important questions during the standard vetting process; it's one of the ways we determine that the person who claims the prize is, in fact, the rightful winner,' she stated.
