During the pandemic, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs, were all the rage in the financial markets. They were seen as a faster, easier way to go public that bypasses the laborious process of a typical IPO.

But now that the SPAC boom has gone bust, it's clear that some of the companies that did this weren't ready for the scrutiny that comes with being publicly listed. Bloomberg Tax & Accounting reporter Nicola M. White looked into one of these companies, Lottery.com. What she found was a head-spinning story of financial mismanagement that involved an exiled Russian businessman, an ill-timed Monaco yacht party, and a very large loan from a Southern California pastor.

On this episode of our podcast, On The Merits, Nicola unpacks how things went so wrong for Lottery.com and how damaging it can be for a company to go public before it's ready.

Do you have feedback on this episode of On The Merits? Give us a call and leave a voicemail at 703-341-3690.