A French man, Jean-David Estele, has offered to share his €500,000 lottery prize with the thieves who stole his credit card and used it to buy the winning ticket.
The incident happened on February 3 in the city of Toulouse, when some thieves broke into Estele’s car and took his credit card.
They used the card at a nearby bar to buy drinks and other items, including a lottery ticket — which surprisingly won €500,000.
According to Estele’s lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, his client sees the situation as a twist of fate. “If his card wasn’t stolen, that ticket would never have been bought. And without that ticket, there would be no prize,” the lawyer explained.
The lawyer said Estele believes the people who took his card may be homeless or in serious need, so he wants to share the money with them.
The police haven’t identified the thieves, but Estele is asking them to come forward.
“My client hopes they will contact me, so they can find a way to split the money fairly. Even though they committed a crime, he feels lucky this all happened,” the lawyer said.
Estele and his wife plan to use their share to build a new home. “It’s not every day someone has their card stolen and ends up grateful for it. This is one of the strangest and funniest cases I’ve ever handled,” the lawyer added.
