The winner of the largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot has finally come forward and accepted the prize through a limited liability company, LaKoma Island Investments LLC, instead of receiving the full amount in payments over time.
State Lottery official Michael Bordman announced that a representative of the winner, LaKoma Island Investments LLC, came to lottery headquarters last week to accept the prize.
"We're extremely pleased that the winner of the largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot has come forward to accept their winnings through the limited liability company LaKoma Island Investments, LLC," said Bordman, according to the Maine Lottery.
The company, which is based in the U.S. Virgin Islands, was established just days before the Mega Millions drawing on October 23rd. Since then, speculation has been rampant as to who the winner is and how the jackpot will be distributed.
It appears that the lucky winner will not be publicly revealed as the winner has opted to remain anonymous. This is possible because the winner chose to accept the option through a limited liability company, LaKoma Island Investments LLC, instead of receiving the full amount in payments over time.
The limited liability company was established by a former executive of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who is now acting as the manager of the company. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm have been linked to the company, LaKoma Island Investments LLC.
The lottery winner will receive their prize in the form of a lump sum payment. The total amount of the jackpot was $1.35 billion, which after taxes will be reduced to around $878 million.
The Mega Millions jackpot had been rolling over since July, when the previous winner of a $522 million jackpot opted to receive the prize in annuity payments.
This is the second largest single-ticket win in U.S. lottery history. The largest single-ticket win was a $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot won in January 2016.
