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Iowa Lottery Suspicious Of NY Lawyer Who Holds Winning $14 Million Ticket
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 24, 2012
Modified Jan 24, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 24, 2012
Modified Jan 24, 2012
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On December 23, 2010, the winning ticket for Iowa's Hot Lotto was purchased at a QuikTrip in Des Moines. No winner emerged—until just before the December 23, 2011 deadline. A lawyer from Bedford, NY claims he holds the winning ticket, worth over $10 million in cash payout, but now Iowa officials are considering a criminal probe.
Right before the deadline, an Iowa law firm presented officials with the winning ticket, saying that lawyer Crawford Shaw is representing a trust, Hexham Investments Trust, that bought the ticket. Shaw claimed he would reveal the winner—whose name and address, by Iowa's regulations, must be made public—a few weeks ago, but Shaw was apparently "delayed" by plane stuff. When he eventually met officials last week, Shaw still didn't disclose the winner's identity. And the waiting has reduced the value of the winnings by $2 million, due to the weak bond market.
While the ticket seems authentic, officials are frustrated—and suspicious. The Des Moines Register reports:
Shaw provided the trust agreement to lottery officials last week, but the document did not provide enough information for officials to release the jackpot, said Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer. Lottery officials declined to release the document or describe its contents because of the ongoing investigation.
However, the document apparently revealed yet another wrinkle in the investigation: Shaw signed the back of the winning ticket as a trustee for “Hexam Investments Trust.” However, documents presented to the lottery spell the trust as Hexham Investments Trust, with a second “h” in the name.
Oh, and another reason why officials are suspicious: Shaw is being sued over his involvement with a now-bankrupt company he used to run.
There's now a deadline set for Friday, 3 p.m., for the winners to be identified. Iowa Lottery Chief Executive Officer Terry Rich said, "The citizens of Iowa deserve to know the story. We haven’t received the information our security team needs to verify the claim. It has never taken this long to get this information before, and we felt a deadline was appropriate."
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crawford shaw
Iowa
iowa lottery
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mystery
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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