Mysterious Lottery Ticket Winner

Iowa Lottery officials are still trying to identify the owner of a lottery ticket purchased in December 2010. Attorneys for Crawford Shaw delivered the ticket to lottery headquarters two hours before it expired. Instead of going to claim the price in person, Shaw signed the ticket on behalf of a trust and then sent it on to the law firm he retained. They then delivered it to lottery headquarters on December 29, 2011. The trust that Shaw signed the ticket on behalf of was Hexham Investements Trust, but Shaw left out the second “h” in the name. Shaw met with lottery investigators last week and would not answer their questions about the chain of custody surrounding the ticket. The error in spelling could be easily cleared up if Shaw would come forward and clear up the story. Crawford Shaw has until Friday at 3 p.m. to give identities and contact information of the person who bought the ticket or the Iowa’s Lottery CEO said he would deny payment of the winnings.

Shaw’s lawyer forwarded the letter about the deadline to him, but she is not sure if he will meet it because he is 76 and his only interest was on behalf of the trust. The Iowa attorney general’s office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation have been helping the lottery look into Shaw’s business dealings in the past. They have found that he played a minor role in the collapse of a chemical company that went bankrupt in 2009 by a stock manipulation scheme. One doctor brought a suit against Shaw alleging that Shaw refused to give him $25,000 worth of shares from the company. Shaw agreed to pay back the money, but he only satisfied $5,000 of what was claimed. Some believe that the ticket is stolen, some believe that the ticket could be valid, and one woman who knew Shaw while he was with the chemical company thinks that he is crooked and not to be trusted. By Friday, we should know whether there is a story to be told or not.

See Iowa Lottery Sets Deadline in Mystery Jackpot Case, CBSNews, Jan. 23, 2012.

Special thanks to David S. Luber (Attorney at law, Florida Probate Attorney Wills and Estates Law Firm) for bringing this to my attention.