He was out to grab some winnings as much as she was, IMO. He also probably figured that he would get some publicity out of it, even if he knew his chances of winning were between zero and none.
Frankly, I think they were hoping that the real winner would agree to an out-of-court settlement just to make them go away and shut up.
The hope for an out of court settment is only valid if the story is true. If the attorney KNEW it was a lie and he filed the papers anyways then his is in deep do do. Cando to the tribunal is a really big issue for judges. You do not lie in court when you are a lawyer. If you are caught you are burned beyond toast.
There is a body of lottery related case law. Those are mostly dealing with divorces. Generally the courts just split the baby and are done with it. The only exception is where the wife lied about winning and divorced her husband. (the judge awared all of it to him years after the fact due to her lie and fraud upon the court.)
I think it is a very valid question as to what this attorney knew and when did he know it. What happened to clinton's lawyer who introduced the false affidavit?