Amanda Clayton, a 25-year-old lottery winner from near Detroit, was found dead at 9 am. On Saturday, The Huffington Post Reports.
She has made headlines for welfare fraud after it was found out that she continued to collect welfare checks even after she won $1 million in the lottery last year. LA Times reported that Clayton's death is a suspected drug overdose.
Only a little of a year ago on Sept. 11, 2011, Clayton was photographed holding a giant check for $1 million from the lottery she won. Despite winning this large amount of money LA Times reported that the state of Michigan said Clayton continued to receive $5,500 in benefits and food stamps.
Clayton went to court and pleaded no contest to fraud in June in which she was given six months probation. She didn't live to fulfill the six months probation as she was found dead in Ecorse, Michigan just outside of Detroit at home.
Clayton was a younger mother of two and The Associated Press reported that her lawyer Todd Flood said, "I think the public scrutiny was something she didn't have the proper tools to deal with."
Flood added to the AP that she had some money left from the winnings however it was a "far cry from where she started."
Clayton said to television statement WDIV in March of the ordeal that she believed the would cut her off but since they never did she thought it was ok because "because I'm not working ... I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay," she said, adding that she also had two houses to maintain."
Clayton decided to have her winnings paid in a lump sum of $735,000 before taxes.
Don McNay author of "What to Do When You Win the Lottery" wrote a piece in the Huffington Post in which he stated that Clayton should have opted to receive the money anonymously to resolve many of the issues she had. He said in The Huffington Post, "Telling the world that you have money that you never expected to have is asking for trouble. Like Abraham Shakespear, another lottery winner who wound up dead in Florida, people thinking that your money should be "our" money seem to come out of the woodwork."
He also added these tips for lottery winners to consider:
"It's been said that roughly 90 percent of people who win the lottery will run through it in five years or less. I tell lottery winners five things to protect themselves.
1. Don't tell anyone you won. If you can collect the money anonymously, do so.
2. Stop and think for a minute before rushing down to collect the check.
3. Don't take the lump sum payment. Take the money over time instead.
4. Find an adviser who has worked with more money than what you have. If you win $100 million, find an adviser who has clients with $150 million. They are out there.
5. Use your money to give something back to society."
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