$14.3 million lottery 'winner' abandons claim

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated at 9:45 p.m. ET: The Associated Press reported that the Iowa Lottery said it had learned that Crawford Shaw, an attorney who said he represents a trust that owned a winning Iowa Lottery jackpot, was "associated with criminal proceedings and bankruptcy filings in New York and Delaware."

The AP said Shaw is the former chief executive officer of Industrial Enterprises of America Inc., a bankrupt public company that the Manhattan District Attorney's office said was looted in a $100 million securities fraud scheme.

Updated 5:45 p.m. ET: Crawford Shaw, an attorney who said he represents a trust that owned a winning Iowa Lottery jackpot ticket, confirmed to the Des Moines Register that the claim has been withdrawn and that his client was in Belize.

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Shaw referred a reporter to a statement issued by a Des Moines law firm that had worked on the trust’s behalf. The statement said the identity of the buyer or buyers of the ticket were unknown even to Shaw, the Register reported.

The statement also said the trust offered to authorize the Iowa Lottery to pay the winnings, after taxes, to charities, but lottery officials declined, saying no payments would be made until the identities of the buyers were known.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the state Division of Criminal Investigation announced a criminal probe into the matter.

The Iowa Lottery has confirmed that the winning ticket is authentic. 

Original post: Iowa Lottery officials say an attorney that claimed to have the winning ticket in a $14.3 million jackpot has abandoned his claim.

Attorney Crawford Shaw abandoned the claim on Thursday, Iowa lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer told The Associated Press.
The ticket was claimed under mysterious circumstances.
Iowa Lottery sets deadline in mysterious jackpot case
The winning ticket was bought at Des Moines convenience store in December 2010, then went unclaimed for nearly a year before attorneys brought the ticket to lottery officials less than two hours before it was to expire.
According to the Des Moines Register, the ticket was signed by Shaw on behalf of an company called Hexham Investments Trust. The name Hexham, however, was misspelled on the signature.
Iowa Lottery officials gave the winners until 3 p..m. Friday to reveal themselves or forfeit the prize.
Lottery officials scheduled a news conference on Thursday night to offer more details.

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