Hot Lotto withdrawal ‘subject of criminal investigation’ – January 30th

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Criminal investigators have a mysterious lottery case in their sights, after the winner of a $14.3 USA Hot Lotto jackpot withdrew their claim.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said it is looking into whether wrongdoing has been committed relating to the purchase and presentation of the lottery ticket in question, but those leading the case have confirmed there is no legal way of compelling the one man who may know more to confess.

New York lawyer Crawford Shaw withdrew the claim for the Hot Lotto jackpot on Thursday (January 26th) after refusing to tell the lottery the identity of the individual who bought the ticket and anybody else who possessed it before it fell into his hands.

He said he did not have the name of the lottery ticket buyer – and all that is known about this individual is that they wished to remain anonymous.

Mysteriously, this nameless lottery player requested via his lawyer that the money be given entirely to charity to avoid his or her identity from being recorded by officials, but this appeal was rejected.

After this application was refused at the last minute, the anonymous lottery ticketholder withdrew the claim for $14.3 million to “avoid further controversy”.

Mr Shaw had approached lottery officials shortly before the Hot Lotto deadline was due on December 29th 2011, shocking officials who had given up the ticket for lost.

The slip was signed by the lawyer on behalf of Hexham Investments Trust, which has its address at a PO Box in a wealthy part of New York State where he lives with his daughter and son-in-law – who is also the president of Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Mr Shaw told the Iowa Lottery that all of the proceeds to the trust would go to a corporation based in the Central American nation of Belize – which is known to be a tax haven.

Spokeswoman for the lotto organisation Mary Neubauer said officials were suspicious, because they were unsure the claim was legal.

“Would it have been responsible to pay millions of dollars to a blind trust that benefits a corporation in Belize without any of the basic information we needed? No,” she stated.

Fans who are intrigued by this case may want to check USA Hot Lotto results at theLotter, where players can keep track of the lottery results of more than 60 games.