Includes video report
GREENWICH, Conn. — Three money managers who claimed the state's record-breaking $254.2 million Powerball jackpot on Monday may still have a fight ahead of them in the court of public opinion.
A day after the trio announced they had scored the windfall on a $1 ticket one of them bought at a gas station, media reports surfaced Tuesday that the men had in fact acted on behalf of an anonymous client.
The speculation started almost immediately: Who could the mystery buyer be? A lucky hedge-fund king? A big-name banker too shy — or guilt-ridden — to go public?
But late in the day, a spokesman for the men, all colleagues at Belpointe Asset Management in Greenwich, denied the story. The men are who they say they are, he said — co-workers who formed a trust to collect the $104 million lump sum and to give much of the money away to charity.
"To be clear, there are a total of three trustees and there is no anonymous fourth participant," said spokesman Gary Lewi. "Within the next 10 days the [Putnam Avenue Family] Trust will be distributing $1 million" to veterans charities in the tri-state area.
Before the lottery winnings, Belpointe managed $85 million, according to a Securities and Exchange filing.
None of the winners, Belpointe President Greg Skidmore and co-workers Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson, could be reached for comment on Tuesday.
The existence of the trust, named after the street where they work, has seemed to only encourage skepticism.
It's legal to claim lottery winnings through a trust, though additional beneficiaries can be added at a later date. Moreover, the person holding the winning ticket isn't required to have purchased the ticket, Connecticut lottery officials said.
Connecticut's Department of Consumer Protection, which oversees the lottery operation, said that it believes the rules were followed and that it isn't investigating.
Curiosity had surrounded the jackpot, Connecticut's largest ever, since the winning ticket was drawn Nov. 2.
For nearly a month, the state urged the winner to come out on billboards and answered what officials called "anonymous phone calls asking about the process," said Lottery chairman Frank Farricker.
At a news conference organized by the Connecticut Lottery on Monday, Messrs. Skidmore, Lacoff and Davidson posed for pictures with an oversize check. Mr. Davidson recalled buying a single Quick Pick ticket at a Stamford gas station but revealed few additional details. The group's attorney, Jason Kurland, answered most of the crowd's questions.
The owner of the gas station where the winning ticket was purchased said he didn't remember Mr. Davidson, but then, the days had been busy.
On Tuesday, Greenwich resident Thomas Gladstone told the Greenwich Time newspaper the actual ticket belongs to one of Belpointe's clients.
He described himself as a close friend of Mr. Lacoff. Mr. Gladstone couldn't be reached for comment.
Speculation ran rampant, with possible winners ranging from a Greenwich billionaire who didn't want to be targeted by the jealous masses to a Stamford firefighter.
"Are you kidding me?" said a person who answered the phone Tuesday at Stamford's Fire Department. If someone there had won, everyone would be talking about it, he added.
Many raised another question: If the money managers weren't the real winners, why would they have participated in a media event that's not mandatory? "It's not required they come to a press conference, but it's important for the integrity of the game for people to see who won the significant jackpot," Mr. Farricker said.
Money manager Michael Holland of New Canaan, who doesn't know the men, said regardless, he still "can't believe they had their pictures taken" in a climate where Wall Street has come under intense protest.
"With Occupy Wall Street, it is so bizarre that they would put themselves out there," he said.
VIDEO: Watch the report
Wow a new twist to the story,stay tune!
Maybe it's someone who isn't supposed to be playing the lottery.
In Michigan state lottery officials aren't allowed to play.
I don't think that's it.
I say each state should allow for anonymity, so people wouldn't have to come up with these strategies.
Let the winner enjoy his/her winnings in peace.
I'd say there is a 0% chance we'll be seeing these guys on "The Lottery Changed My Life" episode on TLC.
I live in Florida and I FEAR for my life if I ever won.
I understand, I grew up in Detroit.
Three money managers winning a $254.2 million Powerball jackpot on a $1 tickets is as suspicious as 210 players hitting 5+0 on their Powerball tickets for a single drawing a few years ago. Like then it wasn't talked about but I'm betting PowerBall security is investigating to to be sure no trickery was involved.
Strange things happen sometimes.
I'm still waiting to hear what they've done that's illegal or immoral.
This is my nightmare: that after going through great trouble to collect and remain anonymous, someone will "out" me.
Just out of curiosity, after you hire a lawyer or asset managers to collect for you; How do you prevent from being left out once they collect? Are you married to these lawyers?
They probably didn't do anything illegal but showing up with their lawyer and revealing their ocupations when their lawyer could have handled it all without them just made the public want to know more.
The lawyer creating the trust is suppose to take care of those details, that's why you hire him.
These guys are not the real winners whenever their are 3-4 people they usually purchase 10-40 tickets at a time.
I'm not buying this story these guys did not comment much at the news conference, and the store owner is right
he don't remember seeing this guy in his store because he was never their one ticket yeah right. The lottery office should investigate
they should hold up the check until their is a investigation. These guys did not want to talk at the news conference they
were scared they would say something wrong about that day.
I must say the entire US has seen this ,do you really think someone who may have purchase the ticket wouldn't get their share they would really lawyer up and come after these trio.I still say there is more to this story ,however we may never know what it is.I am sure this saga will continue.
I, too, am inclined to think that these three men are fronting for someone. But it's B.S. that the press/public is bent on trying to expose the 4th party. They're likely just some smart individual who took the time and money to ensure their anonymity and privacy. Why can't they be left alone?
And why should the lottery office investigate? They already said that rules were followed, it's perfectly legal for a trust to claim the winnings.
Maybe, just maybe when they went to get gas they found the ticket that someone lost. No one pools .33 in a lottery pool.
And what took them so long to collect the prize, If you are a money manager you should already know the tax rules/laws.......right, so what was there to work out before coming forward to collect the winnings.
Unless it is the lost and found ticket (gas station clerk don't remember any of them)........huuuuummmmm.
If they did infact win that honestly.
I wish them the very best.
If it doesn't make sense, it's not true!!
Something is very fishy here, i never heard of a lottery pool or any group getting together and spending $1 dollar on a jackpot.What if Powerball riged the game and had these 3 rich stooges claim the money to put it back into their own pockets, this could have been a planned out scam! If the jackpot was like $20 million i dont think we will be seeing these money pros claiming it! There is a big rotten fish in the tank that knows what machine the winning ticket is coming out of,what neighborhood, and what time it would be sold!! These guys do not look happy like someone would after winning $254 million or $103+million after taxes. There was something wrong from the start with those guys claiming they lost the ticket before these money managers claimed the jackpot!
I do think there's something a little fishy here. I just hope the person who bought the ticket gets the money when it's all said and done.
People do, however, participate in small buy-in lottery pools. I run three big pools but when the jackpots are high, me, my niece, and a couple of coworkers will put in .25 apiece to play a $1 ticket. Those 3 people pools are a pain tho because of that extra penny.
I agree that something fishy is going on. Do I think they should be investigated? No. I think this is being done to protect the real winners identity. More power to them!!
Whether the real winner is a billionaire (before the win) or not, leave them alone. Let them enjoy their win or enjoy donating it away.
My final thoughts on this whole thing...
Someone won, who wasn't me, oh well better luck next time.
Who cares who actually won, or what they do with the money, it's not my money, it's theirs to do however they wish.
I'm just glad the "mystery" of the where the ticket was has been solved. No more people claiming to have lost it.
Hiring a lawyer or an asset manager is probably a smart move on their part, if that's what really happened.
If not, who cares, it's not my money. Everything that has gone on is perfectly legal.
If they don't donate money to charity, that's too bad, it's their money, however usually donations are a tax write-off so it would be beneficial to whom ever.
Also did I mention it's their money?
I still like the story of 3 people splitting one QP ticket.
Their is always another jackpot to win so if 3 asset managers want to split a ticket and win more power to them. I do not care if they won. Once I check my tickets and see that I have not won. I hope for a rollover so I can have another shot at it. But their is always more jackpots to win you just have to wait your turn to get them. Good luck!-weshar75
The key to this whole thing is the $1.00 ticket. Three wealthy guys pooled their money to buy a $1.00 ticket???? How believeable is that? I dont care how much money any of them has. The guy who spent the buck just aint gonna share 104 million dollars with his co-workers. Nobody is going to convince me his attitude wouldn't be "It was my dollar, and I won it"! And he'd be correct in his thinking!!!
Along with that, consider the fact that most money handling professionals will tell you that workplace lottery pools are a bad idea. Money Pro's know they're a bad idea unless a hardcopy document exists stipulating all the rules, signed by all partcipants in the pool, and that document is notarized. Then evidence would exist that could be shown to a judge that would hold up in court. But how many people who partcipate in a workplace lottery pool have something like that in place? IMHO, the vast majority of office lottery pools are run very casually and informally. These three guys are money pro's. They sure as hell know better than to not have all the "T's" crossed and the "I's" dotted especially when it comes to very large sums of money!!!!!
Suppose the office pool hits for millions. But "Joe" a guy who always gets in the pool, was out sick the day the money to buy the tickets was collected, so Joe missed out on the big win. Dont you think Joe is gonna get a lawyer and try to collect what he thinks is his "fair share", whether he's entitled to it or not? If the pool doesnt have anything like I described above in place, then what do you think a judge can do for good old Joe? Not much!
Do you think these 3 guys actually went to the extent of having a written agreement in place so they could pool one lousy dollar?? I dont.
Several people have claimed the 3 asset managers are weathy. No where in the news stories were they identified as wealthy. They do not own the money their company manages. Just like a bank manager does not own all the money in the bank.
Good luck.
A $1 ticket won the jackpot, yes. And it sounds unreasonable that three guys would split one $1 ticket.
But how do we know he didn't buy three $1 tickets or fifteen $1 tickets or thirty $1 tickets?
They have no legal obligation to give us any details.
There's a member here who has a friend who says if he ever wins a jackpot he's gonna tell the press it was the first time he ever played, just to piss people off.
So trying to develop a theory based on the word of people who aren't under oath or obligation can be an exercise in futility.
Thanks Chaos...and if I may Repeat for the mass's.
ITSTHEIR MONEY!
DONT TELL ME HOW TO SPEND MY MONEY AND I SURE WONT "OPINIONATE" HOW YOU GOT YOURS :)
Thats the story in a NUT SHELL. :)
Please do your homework- Mr Lacoff is the founding partner of Belpointe, Mr Skidmore is President, so yeah..I'd say they "own the money" from this company and control its destiny for succeeding and being managed.
I think you do not understand how money managment companies work.
I think the three guys got payed to hide the fourth guy out of the limelight..Its no big deal...No laws were broking ..Think about it ..If you hit a huge jackpot and the people that will come out of the woodwork...Just look at what happened to Jack Witterker ...His whole life became a huge mess..There is a really big lesson to be learned from Jacks troubles.....STAY OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT......But you knew the three guys were full of donkey dust in the vid on tv...it looked like a bad sitcom.
ust look at what happened to the 314 powerball guy...
These guys are brilliant. They claim they only bought one ticket, and then get one of their friends to claim they're a front for somebody else. 24 hours after coming forward half of the people already think they aren't lottery winners. It's almost as good as being anonymous and as a bonus their business gets millions in free advertising.