The mystery Iowa winners of a $241 million Powerball jackpot could have their identities unveiled as soon as Friday morning, say state officials.
The Iowa Lottery last month paid the biggest jackpot prize in state history to the 20 winners, a group of Quaker Oats workers from Cedar Rapids known as the "Shipping 20." But their names weren't released. It was the first time since the state lottery was established in 1985 that a jackpot winner hadn't been identified.
However, Iowa Lottery Chief Executive Officer Terry Rich advised the group's lawyers last month that the winners would be publicly identified on July 6 if they didn't follow through with their plans to seek a court order blocking lottery officials from releasing their names.
As of Tuesday, no petition had been filed in court to seek an injunction, and Rich said he didn't have any indication court action would occur by the deadline.
"I have the names and the document to release the names if we don't hear from them by Friday morning," Rich said.
Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for the Iowa attorney general's office, which has been advising the Iowa Lottery on the matter, said Tuesday that his office had heard nothing new from the Cedar Rapids law firm of Day, Rettig & Peiffer, which is representing the Powerball winners.
"There is still time, but we haven't heard anything yet," Greenwood said.
Lawyers from the firm didn't respond on Tuesday to requests for comment. The Des Moines Register has made a formal request to Iowa Lottery officials seeking the release of the winners' names, citing Iowa's open-records law.
Nearly all of the winners attended an Iowa Lottery news conference on June 20 in Des Moines after they claimed their prize. However, the workers refused to fully identify themselves to reporters.
"We are private people, common people. I don't want the limelight," one man said.
The winners — 18 men and two women — chose to receive their payment as a $112 million lump sum after taxes, rather than a $241 million annuity spread over 30 years. Each received $5.6 million.
Joe Day of Cedar Rapids, a lawyer who represents the Shipping 20 Trust, said after last month's news conference that he planned to seek a court order in Linn County District Court to block the Iowa Lottery from releasing the names of the winners.
Day said the legal winner of the Powerball jackpot is the Shipping 20 Trust, and the workers are beneficiaries of the trust who cannot be identified without their consent. He contended that the trust was created the minute the group created a pool to buy lottery tickets.
The names of Iowa Lottery winners have been routinely made public since the state-run lottery was established in 1985. Lottery officials say that provides transparency and ensures the public is aware prizes are being paid to real people. Rich said there have been other lottery winners who wanted to remain anonymous, but this was the first time that someone had announced plans to seek a court order to keep his or her identity a secret.
Never thought this court order to protect their identities would fly. It would appear, barring very last minute action from the lawyers, this will
not be happening. No great surprise here.
As everything was coming down to the wire, I'm sure the Shipping 20 were getting nervous about collecting their dough.
Concerning the lottery in general... it's a shame people can't claim in private due to a few conspiracy nutters out there. I bet those who demand the names of winners would want to be anonymous had they won.
Something smells in Des Moines.They don't want lottery players to collect their winnings anonymously because naming them provides free advertisement to the lottery.There is NO other reason for it!
time will spin a most curious yarn in a fist full of hrs ...... I wish them luck ......
but I reckon if "THEY" can't get thar chit together ..... Thars gonna be a major problems trying to logon here by late friday morning
The lottery rules are if you win, your name will be released. These winners now want the lottery to change the rules for them. If the lottery didn't release any names, some would say it's rigged. Play by the rules are don't play at all.
Nobody who follows the news here should be surprised by this, as there is recent precedent.
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/241598
If you click to that story, all the follow-on articles about it can be found in the Related Stories box to the right.
MOST people in Iowa want the rules changed.And who are you to say "don't play" if you don't like the rules?Rules and laws are changed all the time.Iowa used to have a helmet law for motorcycle riders but the motorcycle riders were so vocal that the law was changed.Maybe if enough people complain loud enough the Iowa lottery will see the insanity in their rules and alow anonymity.
I think it would have been much worse if their was just one winner for that jackpot and then their names would be plastered every were on the internet and in the news. Maybe because it was 20 winners for $5.8 million there will be less of a headache from people wanting to bug them.-weshar75
"it's a shame people can't claim in private due to a few conspiracy nutters out there."
It's a shame people can't smoke dope in the privacy of their homes too. And it's a shame people are still texting while driving when it's illegal in the majority of states.
Some states are more open on disclosing all public records and the Iowa Lottery is bound by the Iowa state open-records law to publish the names of the winners. The people of Iowa can and have changed laws they disagree with, but this isn't one of them.
Is it always a "shame" when some states uphold all their laws or just the laws that you don't agree with?
Winners agree to lottery rules and regulations and state laws when they sign the back of the winning ticket. If you don't like their rules, don't play their games.
The strange part about this story is the "shipping 20" reveled their identifies when the went to claim their winnings. By having their lawyer say they would file an injunction against reveling their names, they actually created more publicity. When their names are finally released, it will just verify the names that probably hundreds of people already know.
Had their only been one winner who wore a disguise when they had their picture taken and didn't tell the world they worked in the Quaker Oats shipping department, they could have filed an injunction just to buy some time until they could secure their privacy.
If they didn't want their names to be known, they should have either 1) given the ticket away to someone who doesn't care name being revealed (me), or 2) tore the ticket up. As it stands, now I as well as millions of other Americans want to know who now has enough money to pay the ObamaTax.
Joe Day of Cedar Rapids, a lawyer who represents the Shipping 20 Trust, said the legal winner of the Powerball jackpot is the Shipping 20 Trust, and the workers are beneficiaries of the trust who cannot be identified without their consent. He contended that the trust was created the minute the group created a pool to buy lottery tickets.
This lawyer is claiming that this group formed the trust the minute the pool was created? wow - someone was 'in the know' to realize that their particular pool would win, and thusly merit spending the funds to create the trust... or do ya think he meant that in a "spirit" of a trust kinda way? -- am I misunderstandin' somthing here?
The lotto should only mention the name on the ticket. No one cares who won, only location.
Maybe as in 'intent' or something.
I doubt a trust was formed that quickly. Lawyer was most likely blowing smoke like most lawyers. Possibly a lottery pool contract based on a written agreement (email?). These people were going to have their names revealed from the git-go. More than likely, this was a delay tactic hoping the hype would die down and most of the nut jobs would go away between then and the release of names.
Anyone who works at that Quaker Oats plant knows who they are. And they've known since the day they all took off to go collect.
Lots of grifters care and probably a few exes.
The smartest of the Shipping 20 will have shipped themselves elsewhere by now.
Actually, this sounds like a smart move for them to have their names publized after they've obtained the money and had time to move. I think I will remember that bag of tricks if the opportunity presents itself to me. ....
If the names of lottery winners are considered public records then lottery winners should have the right to make all requests for their money public records too.
It would be interesting to know the names and addresses of those making such requests along with the amounts and reasons they give for their requests.
Thats a great idea,RJOH.Then they could be tracked and we could see who the worst repeat offenders are.I'm pretty sure there are people out there that hound winner after winner looking for a handout.
In addition, once these requests are public with names, addresses and their needs, the people making them might find they have friends and neighbors in their communities willing to help them if they are aware of their needs.
I think if I was ever a lottery winners, I would request all those requesting my money sign a form allowing me to use their personal information any way I chose before even considering their requests to the point of suing them for fraud if that was the case.
In the prior story the lottery officials were not given the names of the underlying winner or winners. Everything seemed suspicious from the start. In the case of the "Shipping 20" the lottery has all that information and there is nothing suspicious about the win. As suggested by others, perhaps the goal was only to buy time between getting paid and their names published. The attorney could still file the petition for a restraining order today and get a friendly judge to grant a preliminary injuction to buy more time. He might expect to lose eventually, but might be able to buy a few more weeks or months.
As to the formation of the "Shipping 20 Trust," I think the attorney is saying an unwritten trust was created when the money was pooled and the ticket purchased. I don't know if Iowa has any statutes on this, but his position is consistent with the Common Law we inherited from Great Britain when our country was formed.
I agree. No reason to hide that which you sought to gain. I am more leery of business's and persons that Hide their monies then those that are honest.
Whatever is on the outside of the envelope is already "public info" and fair game.
I've always been of the opinion that Iowa and Minnesota should merge and become one state called Iota.
Think of the money Minnesota would save on ink costs for their travel brochures.
I once worked for a large company that spelled employee as "employe" for a very similar reason.
Until I worked up the nerve to question it (to someone NOT my supervisor
), no one bothered to explain it.
It seems whoever dropped that idea into the suggestion box got paid quite a bit of money for their illit.. laz.. er .. cleverness.