Wrong. In 2021, the IRS exclusionary gift tax is $15,000.00 per year. I could give you 15k cash, a UTV, used car, nice guns, etc and as long as it wasn't over 15k, you pay no federal taxes. State gift tax? I don't know of any states that have it. You can also give a one time gift of over 5 million per person (like 11mm for married couple) to reduce estate taxs...but after that 11mm+ number you pay taxes on everything over that. BTW...he wont need gifting...he'll need a broker to buy all the fixed income ladders and stocks when he has a half billion dollars.
You are CORRECT as per the law! AND I was wrong in that Mr Rittenhouse would have a liability as that rests with the giver. Winnings from a lottery or contest, which this is NOT, would be the recipients responsibility.
That being said, my advice still holds that Mr Rittenhouse should have an advisor about financial matters, especially those pertaining to taxable situations. There is a difference between being legal and being legally SAFE and being legally unbothered! Lois Learner retired from the IRS with full benefits in spite of targeting legal Tea Party organizations applying to the IRS for 501(c)3 status in the Obama years. She broke no law but, by delaying, harassing and denying the charitable deduction status SELECTIVELY, she demonstrated what a LEFTist bureaucrat can do with power.
Mr Rittenhouse has a target on his back, and the multitudinous IRS rules and regulations will make it an easy scenario, with his, and family's, obviously non-standard income, for an audit. It is likely that there could be legal basis but it is so easy to err without more expert guidance.