In September 2023, the Peekskill Herald reported the exciting news that a local store sold a $5 million winning New York state lottery ticket. At the time, the storeowner told the Herald the winner wished to remain anonymous.
“He didn’t want a lot of publicity, and preferred to not have his name made known publicly,” according to a co-owner of the Valley Brook Market on Main Street deli between Bank and James Streets.
At that point, the story of the mystery $5 million lottery winner takes a turn that winds up in court. Documents filed in Westchester County Court detail the subsequent multi-million dollar legal battle between two people who each claimed the ticket belonged to them.
Who really owned the winning ticket?
New York state Lottery officials revealed later that year that “Daniel Piamonte of Cortland [sic] Manor has claimed a $5,000,000 top prize on the New York Lottery’s X Series: 100X scratch-off game. Piamonte received a single lump sum payment totaling $3,254,887, after required withholdings.”
Allegations made in the civil lawsuit filed in White Plains the following February claim that Piamonte, 69 years old, conned the actual ticket holder into signing it over to him and then kept the money for himself.
According to the court papers, a Peekskill resident who did not speak or read English fluently bought that winning ticket with his own money at Valley Brook Market on August 26, 2023.
Not understanding what he should do, the winning ticket holder sought help. “Plaintiff approached [Piamonte] to assist him in arranging to obtain the prize money because Plaintiff did not speak or read English. Plaintiff was not sure how much he had won because the Lottery Ticket was somewhat confusing.” The man was a family acquaintance of Piamonte according to the court papers.
According to the court documents, “[Piamonte] told Plaintiff that he would cash the ticket for Plaintiff because he would not have to pay taxes on it due to Defendant’s age.” Then, “[Piamonte], without telling Plaintiff, signed the back of the Lottery Ticket when they were attempting to cash…”
The two men first tried to cash the winning ticket at the Empire Casino in Yonkers later in August but were told they had to bring it to the Lottery office in Schenectady.
When the man who claims he bought the ticket went to Schenectady on August 31, he claims in court papers he was told his ticket had been signed by Piamonte. When he questioned him, Piamonte told the plaintiff to sign a disclaimer form so he could collect the winnings and give them to him.
The man did sign the form, and in the lawsuit he claims he did not understand that he gave over his rights to the winnings to Piamonte, who then collected the money from the state lottery office.
Piamonte then refused to hand over the winnings despite repeated requests according to the lawsuit.
In February of 2024 Piamonte was sued by the person who claimed to be the rightful owner of the ticket. That June Piamonte settled the case without admitting any wrongdoing and paid over $1.33 million to the plaintiff’s attorneys.
According to allegations in the court papers, Piamonte paid off his mortgage and bought a new car with the lottery winnings in January of 2024.
More legal problems involving criminal charges
With the civil lawsuit now resolved, Daniel Piamonte is scheduled to appear in Peekskill City Court on June 12 to answer criminal charges including possession of crack, seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance, and numerous traffic violations including driving without a license, speeding and failing to obey a police officer that occurred in four different arrests in February, March, April and May of 2024.
According to a published report, he was charged with felony violation of probation and misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation by New York State Police in March of 2012.
In June of 2011, Piamonte was one of 22 people arrested during drug raids conducted by the Peekskill Police Tactical Response Unit. Piamonte was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance
The Internal Revenue Service has filed a $753,004 federal tax lien against him for 2023 unpaid personal income taxes.
Richard Portale, Piamonte’s lawyer in the lottery ticket lawsuit, did not return a call asking for comment. His attorney in the criminal cases, Kenneth Michael Calvey, could not be reached for comment.
