Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, who was born in Laos and immigrated to the U.S. in 1994, plans to split the money with a friend and find himself a “good doctor.”
One of the winners of a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot this month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, 46, of Portland, told a news conference held by the Oregon Lottery on Monday that he and his 37-year-old wife, Duanpen, would split the prize evenly with a friend. Laiza Chao, 55, of the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, had chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them. They are taking a lump sum payment, $422 million after taxes.
The article doesn’t make it 100% clear, but it sounds like this guy was just going to die of untreated cancer due to our for-profit healthcare system if he hadn’t won the Powerball.
So I guess all of you cancer victims without good insurance know what to do.
He’ll probably still die. So don’t fret.
I hope not for a long time since he’s not an old man.
Well, cancer can be like that.
Often not, if you can get treatment. Which he can now afford through sheer luck alone, unlike many other cancer victims in America who could have beaten their cancer if they could have afforded to.
This is a message to all poor people dying of cancer to go and spend whatever they have on state sponsored gambling. The orphan crushing machine knows no rest.
Talk about making it in America. Good for him. Well, except the cancer part. That can fuck right off.
Man, to be an actual billionaire it must be something to be able to open every single door and go any place you want. Almost like playing a game with cheat codes on. I wonder if it gets dull after a while. They don’t seem particularly happy.
It does. That’s why a lot of lottery winners and pro athletes are broke after a few years. You take your money, live large, lifestyle creep happens, then the money stops but the bills keep coming.
It’s probably not the case but I always wondered if some of those public stories are just to get beggars off your back. Akin to faking one’s death, you fake you lost all your money so people stop hounding you. I’d probably do this if I had to announce my winnings (but then I’d have to play let alone win).
I’d do a lot of research on buying a place to live comfortably and sustainably with my family. I’d probably just pocket the rest in trusts for my kids and travel mostly. Lifestyle creep is a massive concern. I don’t know if I’d have the willpower to regulate that but I’d like to think I would…
Almost a billion in taxes? Ahaha wow.
No. The lump sum payment option is $600 million-ish. You would only get the $1.3 billion (pre-tax) if you take the annuity option.
How long would it take to get that?
i believe it is 20 years and goes away if you die. I may misremembering though.
The jackpot had a cash value of $621 million before taxes if the winner chose to take a lump sum rather than an annuity paid over 30 years, with an immediate payout followed by 29 annual installments. The prize is subject to federal taxes and state taxes in Oregon.
I should have clicked the article before instead of relying on the not-so-short summary above. Not bad, but yes, not much point for him with his situation.
Federal government takes about 25% in tax.
Oregon takes 8%, more than half of which goes to education
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’d love to be able to afford to pay a billion dollars in taxes. May I be cursed with such a burden.
As far as I can tell, $1.3B was the total amount split between several winners. Even if not, I’d be completely fine with paying a billion in taxes and still having much more left over than I could possibly spend 🤷😄
Apparently even with the win he still can’t afford US health care bills.
