Merida Manipoun won an Aston Martin in a slot machine sweepstakes at San Diego’s Viejas Casino & Resort.
That was in May.
She has since received a tax bill for $134,000, the sports car’s estimated market value.
She has yet to get her Aston Martin.
Now she’s suing the dealership, Aston Martin of San Diego, and employees of Viejas, claiming fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, breach of unfair competition law and breach of contract.
According to legal papers filed in California state court in San Diego, Manipoun, a resident of Clark County, Nev., was playing at Viejas to earn chances to participate in the casino’s “Dream Machine” drawing. She won. She was publicly congratulated at the casino and posed for promotional photos, her suit states.
But then not long after, one or more defendants at the casino urged her to forego the car in exchange for a comparatively small cash compensation, ostensibly for the tax benefits, the suit claims. She refused and demanded the car.
It appears that Viejas reported the award to the Internal Revenue Service, hence the tax bill. But when she went in person to the dealership to get her car they told her they did not have paperwork entitling her to it, and she would not be receiving it.
Aston Martin of San Diego and Viejas declined to comment, according to news reports.
