$338 million Powerball winner reconciles with former girlfriend who sued him for a share of his payout

  • Pedro Quezada, from Passaic, New Jersey, won fourth largest lottery sum in U.S. history last year
  • But he split up with his long-term girlfriend and mother of his daughter, Inez Sanchez, following a domestic dispute
  • In November, she filed a lawsuit for a cut of his money - claiming they had agreed to share it even though they weren't married
  • She dropped the suit last week and now it has emerged the couple reconciled on Valentine's Day
  • His lawyer revealed he told Quezada: 'Love trumps all'

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 16:49 EST, 10 March 2014 | UPDATED: 17:16 EST, 10 March 2014


A woman who sued her former live-in boyfriend for a cut of his $338 million Powerball jackpot has now reconciled with him.

Inez Sanchez and Pedro Quezada, from Passaic, New Jersey, got back together on Valentine's Day and are now moving back in together, Quezada's attorney told The North Jersey Record.

Sanchez, who has a child and ran a grocery store with Quezada, dropped the suit last week after filing it in November after they broke up. She had claimed that they had agreed to share any lottery winnings.

But Quezada's attorney Paul Fernandez argued they had never been married and so she was not legally entitled to the money. At the time, Quezada became depressed that he had lost his family.

Back together: Powerball winner Pedro Quezada, pictured right after he emerged as the winner a year ago, has reconciled with his girlfriend Inez Sanchez, left, and she has moved back in with him

Back together: Powerball winner Pedro Quezada, pictured right after he emerged as the winner a year ago, has reconciled with his girlfriend Inez Sanchez, left, and she has moved back in with him

'He went from having all of this family and no money to having all of this money and no family,' Fernandez said. 'I said, "Listen, love trumps all. Talk to her." He called me on Valentine’s Day - ecstatic - to tell me they were moving back in together.'

At a hearing on Friday, Superior Court Chancery Division Judge Margaret Mary McVeigh passed on her best wished to the couple.

 

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'I wish the parties good luck and a wonderful future,' she said. 'I hope this works out for you. Good luck, be happy and find what is most important in life.'

It has been far from plain sailing for Quezada since he won the massive payout.

The grandfather, who was in arrears with child support to the tune of $30,000 when he won, enjoyed positive national headlines when a friend claimed he'd stump up a month’s rent for his neighbors on his small hard scabble street block - but afterwards, neighbors revealed he never paid up.

Happy again: His lawyer told a depressed Quezada to put everything aside to reunite his family

Happy again: His lawyer told a depressed Quezada to put everything aside to reunite his family

Return: Sanchez, pictured after the win, had filed a lawsuit for a cut of the money last year

Return: Sanchez, pictured after the win, had filed a lawsuit for a cut of the money last year

According to Ms Sanchez's attorney earlier this year, a large chunk of the money has already disappeared including $57million that has been sent to Quezada's native Dominican Republic, $300,000 spent on the home in Clifton, and $20 million that can't be located.

Quezada also allegedly left his landlord high and dry after making hollow promises he'd pay rent for all of the tenants of 12 School Street, a dead-end block behind a high school where families live in brick walk up tenement style apartments.

'He got lucky and it would have been a good act to pay the rent,' Serafim Ariza, 19, told MailOnline. 'He promised the whole street but he never followed through.'

At Big Apple Deli on 8th Street, the bodega Quezada used to manage, he hasn’t won many friends by allegedly forsaking his former customers.

'He didn't come back here,' George Cruz told MailOnline. 'He didn’t remember where he came from. He forgot.'

Former life: Quezada promised to pay everyone's rent in his old street - but reportedly never did

Former life: Quezada promised to pay everyone's rent in his old street - but reportedly never did

Cruz claimed Quesada relied on girlfriend Ines Sanchez to cover the cost of his deli’s inventory.

'She helped him with $15,000 to put into that grocery store,' Cruz said. 'She paid for the stuff.'

'With that kind of money you still got to take care of the wife and kid. Goddamn, look out for her. Don't be a hardball. With that kind of money you have to buy her a house.'

Superior Court Chancery Judge McVeigh decided not to throw out Ms Sanchez's lawsuit in November, but she did deny Ms Sanchez's request to freeze Quezada's lottery money.

The judge explained that while she acknowledged the long term relationship as well as Sanchez's contributions to the household, but she legally she could not restrain Quezada's assets.

'That’s what money does to people: It changes positive relationships into bad ones,' McVeigh said.

'It doesn’t always enhance a relationship, or bring out people’s better qualities. Her [Sanchez’s] life has been up-ended by this winning ticket…But I am a judge. I don’t create the law. I have to follow it.'

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How the heck did $77 million just disappear? Somebody hack his bank account? I'd have the police look into that, for a start!

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lets put bets on how long it takes them to lose the lot

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So basically, she broke up with the guy thinking that she would get a share of the loot and no longer had to deal with him. Then she was told that she won't get any of the loot, so she bellys back up to him....and here's the amazing part...He not only actually takes her back, but allows her to move in...giving her a chance to sue as a common law wife for her share after a couple of years. HER strategy has changed from a short game of dumping him and running with some cash, to a long game of putting in a few years then hitting him for it....and dude, Love is grand, but your being used. Break it off now because this has zero chance of lasting beyond the very second her lawyers tell her she can grab some loot. VERY calculating on her part... VERY typical.

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Actually he left her and their child together high and dry. He also owed back child support when he won the lottery for another child. He didn't even pay his last months rent on his apartment.

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I CALLED HIM A PIG WHEN HE THROUGH HER OUT, I REALLY THINK HE HAS A HIDDEN AGENDA, WE WILL WAIT FOR PART 3? I DO NOT THINK IT WILL TAKE LONG.

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Maybe! But calm down lady!

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Well this has to end well.

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She better get it in writing while they're still talking!

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He better get a food taster..

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Run a mile.

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"love trumps all" riiiiiiiiiiiigggghhhtttt, nothing to do with the 300 odd million. He's stupid for getting back with her.

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She sure loves his money.

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