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Winner Of $13 Million Lottery Pleads Guilty To Tax Charge

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

TAMPA - Former lottery multimillionaire Rhoda Toth has agreed to plead guilty to signing a false tax return.

Toth's husband, Alex, has been declared incompetent to stand trial and is being evaluated in a federal medical correctional facility in North Carolina.

The Toths won $13 million in the Florida Lotto 17 years ago, but say they lost it all through gambling, gifts and living the high life. The money created rifts in their family, leading to a lawsuit between Rhoda Toth and her son in 1996.

That year, Rhoda Toth, 50, had a public falling-out with her son, Steven Michael Moser. She accused him in court of threatening her after she stopped giving him money. After her arrest last year, she said she and her son had patched things up.

According to a plea agreement filed in federal court, the Toths won the lottery to be paid out over 20 years. When the payments were being made, their taxes were withheld. In 1999, they sold the annuity to Singer Asset and Finance for two lump sums, $1.59 million to Alex Toth and $1.49 million to Rhoda Toth.

That year, they filed tax returns reporting their income as if they had received the same annuity payment they had received before. They failed to report the lump sum payments from selling the annuity, the plea agreement states.

In subsequent years, the agreement states, the Toths falsely reported gambling losses to offset the payments they were no longer receiving.

In total, the agreement states, Rhoda Toth owes the government $1.1 million and her husband owes $1.4 million.

The charge to which Rhoda Toth agreed to plead guilty carries a maximum prison sentence of three years, but she would receive less under the terms of the agreement.

Alex Toth's attorney, Bjorn E. Brunvand, asserted in court papers that Alex Toth has severe psychiatric and medical problems that render him incompetent. According to a letter from physician Gary Levine of Suncoast Total Healthcare, Toth has been involved in "multiple motor vehicle accidents," most recently on June 4.

He has chronic pain syndrome, the physician wrote, as well as Type 2 diabetes; a poorly controlled, penicillin-resistant staph infection; and a history of severe esophagitis, gastritis and degenerative joint and disc disease.

"He also has chronic anxiety and panic attacks," Levine wrote, and he is taking multiple medications.

Psychiatrist Michael S. Maher testified during a hearing in August that Alex Toth is not competent, and that he needs intensive treatment for physical and psychological problems in the hope he could regain competency.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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