James Farthing, 51, from Georgetown, Kentucky, USA, who won $167.3 million in the Powerball lottery, has been taken into custody again — this is his fourth arrest. According to People magazine, this time the man is charged with domestic violence.
Farthing was placed in Scott County Jail after being detained on July 26. On July 28, he appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. The court set bail at $15,000, issued a no‑contact order regarding the alleged victim, and required him to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet — it will alert law enforcement if the man violates the imposed restrictions. The victim’s identity has not been disclosed.
According to the woman, the conflict occurred after a boat ride they took together. She alleges that Farthing grabbed her by the neck with both hands, causing breathing difficulties.
Farthing won the Powerball jackpot in April of last year. At the time, he stated that he wanted to share the winnings with his mother, Linda Grizzle, who planned to use the funds to pay off debts. However, just a few days after the win, the man was detained again: he was then charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. According to police, Farthing struck the officer who was trying to break up an argument between him and another person.
Previously, Farthing was accused of crashing his car into another vehicle in November and then leaving the scene on foot. In February, he was detained on suspicion of threatening a participant in a court proceeding.
According to The New York Post, by 2025 Farthing had spent a total of 30 years in prison, serving sentences in 25 different correctional facilities. At that time, he had criminal convictions in nine Kentucky counties. His past offenses include strangling a woman, bribing police officers, and selling drugs — including to an undercover officer while Farthing himself was incarcerated.
Farthing has been committing crimes since his teenage years. Notably, he earned his high school diploma while in prison, despite having spent ten years in school. In recent years, he involved his mother in criminal schemes, including operations to smuggle drugs into the prison. Additionally, while incarcerated, he stole items from other inmates and demanded money in exchange for returning them. Farthing was occasionally released on parole, but he soon found himself behind bars again, often due to drug use.
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