September 3, 2001. St Louis Post Dispatch

And now she's broke

By Chern Yeh Kwok * Janite Lee won $18 million in 1993. She contributed huge sums to Democrats. Washington U. named a reading room for her.

For eight years, Janite Lee lived the good life.

She moved into a gated community in Town and Country. She dined with world leaders. She had a reading room at Washington University's law school named for her.

But by July, the $18 million lottery winner had run through it all. Lee filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Until she files documents related to her finances, it is unclear exactly how she fell into insolvency. Interviews, court filings and federal records show that Lee was generous to a variety of causes, particularly politics, education and the community.

"As you know, anybody who wins the lottery, everyone comes to them," said Kay-Song Lee, editor of the Korean-American Journal in St. Louis. Kay-Song Lee is a friend of Janite Lee's and is not related to her.

Rochelle Stanton, an attorney representing Lee in the bankruptcy, declined to discuss the matter in detail. Lee, who is single and 60, was not available for comment.

In the bankruptcy filing, Lee listed $1.8 million in assets and $2.5 million in liabilities.

As of July 5, she claimed to have $700 left in two bank accounts, according to court filings. She had no cash on hand.

Her eight-year journey began on a Saturday in early February 1993.

Back then, Lee, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea with her husband and three stepchildren in 1972, was operating a wig shop in downtown St. Louis, according to Kay-Song Lee. She had raised her children on her own after earlier divorcing her husband, said Kay-Song Lee.

On that day eight years ago, Lee's cousin drove her to the Route 3 Gift Shop and Lottery in Sauget, just across the Missouri-Illinois state line, to buy only her second ticket for the Illinois Lottery. Lee, then 52, found out the next day that she had won $18 million.

She took her winnings in 20 annual installments of $620,000, after taxes. She soon bought a house in a gated neighborhood in Town and Country, paying $1.2 million.

Among her dreams was to build a nondenominational church in the St. Louis area, she told the Post-Dispatch in 1993.

Giving to Washington U.Across from the entrance to Washington University's School of Law library hangs a painting of Janite Lee dressed in a white hanbok, a traditional Korean dress.

To the right is the Janite Lee Reading Room, which the university describes as built in the style of the English Inns of Court. Mahogany beams line the ceiling, and shelves are stacked with tomes of reference material. "The perfect place for quiet study and contemplation," the university boasts on its Web site.

Washington University declined to say how much or when Lee donated to the law school. Kay-Song Lee said Lee told him she donated $1.5 million.

The donations to the university didn't end there. In 1999, Lee, who had a stepdaughter who graduated from Washington University, made the Parents' Honor Roll as a Life Eliot Benefactor. To attain this title, Lee would have contributed $500,000 to $1 million.

"Janite Lee has been a very supportive member of our community," said Joel Seligman, dean of Washington University's School of Law, in a statement. "We are proud that her daughter is a graduate of the school, and her expressions of appreciation reflect well upon her and the school."

Cash aplenty to DemocratsHer generosity wasn't limited to Washington University.

Lee skyrocketed into political prominence in 1997, when she sought to be the luncheon chairwoman for a local fund-raising event for President Bill Clinton. She backed up that request with campaign checks for $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee.

Lee sat next to Clinton at that luncheon. Her generosity soon touched off a stampede among prominent Missouri Democrats seeking campaign donations. All told, she donated $277,000 to various candidates over the next three years. That included $2,000 to Hillary Clinton's successful New York bid for the U.S. Senate last year.

The largest chunk - $84,000 - went to Rep. Richard A. Gephardt's various campaign committees. Another $10,000 went to various committees tied to Attorney General Jay Nixon's unsuccessful 1998 bid for the U.S. Senate.

At Nixon's November 1997 fund-raiser, Lee sat next to Clinton again. In October 1998, she sat next to Vice President Al Gore when he held a fund-raising dinner here.

Area Democratic activists said they were introduced to Lee through Clinton's campaign aides. Other than her money, none of those activists claimed to know much about her.

In 1997, Lee ranked 31st on a list of the top soft money donors to the Democratic National Party Committee, according to Common Cause, a citizens lobbying organization. That put her a notch below the Boeing Co.

In 1998, she was ranked in the top three of individual political donors in Missouri for that year.

Between these events, Lee attended a state dinner at the White House for South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung. Accompanying Lee was her stepdaughter, who now practices law in Chicago.

Aiding the poor, churchThe St. Louis community also benefited from her generosity, and Lee maintained a high profile among Korean-Americans in St. Louis.

She held lunches for the homeless in Forest Park, said Kay-Song Lee. She supported a local association for families that adopted Korean children. She also contributed heavily to her church, according to several Korean-Americans here.

And when a pastor at a local Korean church died unexpectedly, she gave $30,000 to his family. She also paid for the funeral expenses, Kay-Song Lee said.

In 1999, Lee was president of St. Louis' Korean American Association and bought a house in North County to use as a private club for the group. She never completed the renovations by the time her one-year term was up, and she eventually sold the house, according to Kay-Song Lee.

Sold right to winningsIt is unclear when Lee's finances took a tailspin, but several factors could have led to her bankruptcy.

She incurred a $750,000 penalty for prepaying a loan; the amount is currently in dispute. Details of when and what she prepaid are unclear.

Lee also sold the right to her winnings for a lump sum, which she did not disclose. But court filings show that she collected nearly $5 million from lottery winnings in the last two years. It was used to pay off debt and mortgages, the filings said.

An investment in a restaurant, the Bombay Bicycle Club in Hazelwood, also turned sour. She had put money into the property on the suggestion of a person who acted as an adviser, said Stanton, Lee's attorney. "It was a bad investment," Stanton said. Lee sold the property in September of last year.

Gambling and credit card debt also cost her a bundle. Last year alone, Lee lost nearly $347,000 at several casinos in the St. Louis area, according to court filings. She racked up about $37,000 charged to several credit cards.

This February, she took a second loan from Royal Banks of Missouri, for $200,000, according to court documents; she borrowed $1.4 million from the bank in 1997. But she also leased a 2000 Mercedes Benz E-class auto in April, handing over $800 in her first payment.

She then missed her bank loan payments in May and her car payments in June.

Lee filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy a month later.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 03, 2001

Answers

A Democrat and their money are soon parted.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 03, 2001.

I just knew you were a dick Lars! Ungrateful fucking repug.

-- Tony Baloney (Fuck the@repugs.com), September 03, 2001.

Lars:

Yep; you have defined the next election. The difference between greed and commitment to equality. :) I am sure you know which is which.

Best Wishes,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), September 03, 2001.

Gambling and credit card debt also cost her a bundle. Last year alone, Lee lost nearly $347,000 at several casinos in the St. Louis area, according to court filings. She racked up about $37,000 charged to several credit cards.

Yes, she sounds very greedy. But I'm confidant that her massive donations to the DNC will be refunded in the name of equality.

In 1997, Lee ranked 31st on a list of the top soft money donors to the Democratic National Party Committee, according to Common Cause, a citizens lobbying organization. That put her a notch below the Boeing Co.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 03, 2001.

Nope Lars:

I think that you have that one backwards. Now, I am going to spend my time getting my Republican Senator re-elected. He has done a great job. You might note, that I am not a great supporter of Dubya. But when someone does a great job, you support him/her. I spent the last election making sure that the Greens didn't get any votes. I am good at this. I am neither a Dem or Repub, but I do Oppose certain things; many that you seem to support.

Best Wishes,,,,,

Z

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), September 03, 2001.

Just funnin' ya Z. I see enough greed to go around. Enough envy too.

You better hurry or you'll miss your flight.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 03, 2001.

She took her winnings in 20 annual installments of $620,000, after taxes

She still has a very comfortable income. What's there for her to bitch about?

-- Just (Wondering@Huh.com), September 03, 2001.

That's right. If she scrimped and lived on only 200k/year, she could keep her assets and have the debt paid in six years. There's no need for bankrupcy.

-- John Littmann (johntl@mtn.org), September 03, 2001.

Sold right to winningsIt is unclear when Lee's finances took a tailspin, but several factors could have led to her bankruptcy

-- A fool (and.his.money.@re.soon.departed), September 04, 2001.

Shocking, yet another Z ability. What skills do you NOT possess? Speed reading ancient Sanskrit? Cricket? Restoration of antique carousels?

As for this tawdry tale, a fool and her money are soon parted. So it has always been and so it shall always be. This is why the income redistribution games of liberals are doomed to fail. Giving a person a check does nothing to ensure the money will be well spent and often fosters dependency. One might rightfully observe that the liberals have done more to perpetuate poverty than provide a rememedy. Of course, those steady checks do make for a large (but impoverished) base of voters. A lesson here?

-- remember (the@ld.forum.com), September 04, 2001.

The effectiveness of Z's activism on the last election is less remarkable than one might realize, although it's hard to deny the brilliant simplicity of his method. He merely ran for office as a Green.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), September 04, 2001.