Includes video report
ROCKY HILL, Conn. — The mystery winners of a $254 million Powerball jackpot, a record for Connecticut, need only look in the mirror for wealth management advice.
All three work for a boutique money management firm in Greenwich, which has fewer assets under its control ($82 million) than their newfound winnings.
Greg Skidmore, Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson of Belpointe LLC revealed themselves as the winners during a check presentation Monday at the Connecticut Lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill.
The tight-lipped trio, who referred all questions to their lawyer, opted to collect an after-tax lump sum of $108 million.
"The one thing that we do know is that a significant amount is going to be going to Connecticut charities," said the spokesman, Jason Kurland, a Long Island, N.Y.-based attorney.
Skidmore, the company's president and chief investment officer, is a former member of the U.S. sailing team who was once an Olympic hopeful, according to the company's website.
Davidson's online biography says he grew up in Switzerland, France and the United Kingston and started his career in financial markets in 1979 with a French bank. He has worked in New York, Paris and London and is a senior portfolio manager and wealth adviser.
Lacoff, the site says, co-founded Belpointe and owns others businesses and properties on Connecticut's shoreline, including companies that manage the assets of individuals and institutions.
Kurland declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the purchase of the winning ticket, which was sold at a BP gas station in the Shippan neighborhood of Stamford shortly before the Nov. 2 drawing.
Frank Farricker, a fellow Greenwich resident who is chairman of the Connecticut Lottery Corp., presented a poster-sized check to the trio during a news conference Monday.
"To their credit, they did show up to Rocky Hill in a very large stretch limo," Farricker said. "They were in suits."
The winning combination was 12-14-34-39-46, Powerball 36. The lucky ticket was a quick pick, with the numbers selected randomly by computer. It marked the third time in the past six months Greenwich produced a winner of a jackpot of at least $1 million
"The way we look at it is it's just another example that anyone can win the lottery," Farricker said. "There's no rule where people should be from or what economic class they should be in. These guys bought one ticket. I just think it's a good thing."
Farricker did a double-take when Lacoff showed up at lottery headquarters Monday. He wondered why he was there. They know one another from real estate circles in Greenwich, where Belpointe has a portfolio of properties.
Among those holdings is Beacon Hill of Greenwich, a cluster of multi-million dollar luxury townhomes on Soundview Drive in the downtown near Town Hall.
Belpointe has been an anchor sponsor of the Greenwich Wiffle Ball Tournament, a town-wide competition created after a group of teens were evicted from a field they built on a vacant municipal property in Riverside in 2008.
The lottery win is more than the firm's total assets under management, listed in Belpointe's most recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission registration. The firm said it had $82 million assets under management as of July.
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Belpointe has several branches, including a connection with Lacoff's law firm, and a pre-existing real estate firm. It also offers insurance products.
Its asset management arm has between 251 to 500 clients, with high net worth individuals accounting for more than 51 percent of the firm's core business. The firm also provides services to pension funds, other individuals, corporations and some government entities.
Skidmore founded Belpointe Asset Management in 2007 after leaving Citi Smith Barney. He merged his business with Belray Capital, a real estate firm owned by Lacoff. Davidson was at UBS Wealth Management prior to joining Belpointe.
When Farricker left lottery headquarters Monday, he said officials there were in the processing of cutting a single check to the winners of the historic jackpot.
"I think I would have cried if I had actually seen the check," Farricker said. "My joke to people is if I ever won a lottery like that, my press conference would be at the airport."
Asked whether his clients, ages 36, 37 and 57, would be retiring or making any splurges, Kurland answered, "No. Not that I know of."
The owners of the Shippan BP station said lottery officials called them at about 11:15 a.m. Monday with the news — which involves a $100,000 retailer bonus — but did not reveal the name of the winner.
"I was kind of shocked. I had heard it was somebody from Norwich, Norwalk and then Stamford. I was pleasantly surprised," said Carol Angotta of Wilton, who co-owns the BP with Michael Lindquist.
Ranjit Singh, manager of the gas station, said he didn't know the winners and doesn't remember selling the winning ticket.
"We're really happy," Singh said. "Christmas is a little early."
Officials announced three weeks ago that the winning ticket was sold in Fairfield County. Rumors had swirled about winners searching for lost tickets in Stamford, Danbury and elsewhere.
Valerie Lamb, a specialist in the CT Lottery's marketing department, said earlier Monday the lottery security department was keeping information about the supposed winner under wraps from the public and lottery staff.
Billboards were posted across the state urging the ticket holder to step forward and end the mystery. A similar message was posted on display screens at 2,700 retailers.
The person who bought the ticket had six months to claim the prize, which ranks as the 12th biggest jackpot in Powerball history. The money would go back to the states that fed the pot if a winner did not come forward by April 30.
Kurland revealed that his clients learned they hit the jackpot a day after the winning ticket was purchased, only to think they were off by a number when an television report misreported the numbers.
"They actually got one of the numbers wrong," Kurland said of the telecast.
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a SINGLE ticket! Love it.
Goes to show buying 10, 20, 30+ tickets doesnt mean a dayum when it can be won with a single buck.
Congrats to these guys. Still, my favorite part is they pulled it off with a single QP!!
I'm glad these guys won it.
I can't stand poor people.
They stink.
Does this mean that the 2 guys who claimed that they lost the winning ticket don't get anything but their 15 + minutes of fame?Fame and NO fortune,bummer!Kind of bass ackwards if you ask me.
Wait so what happens to the other 2 people who claimed that they lost their ticket? Will they be arrested or what?
God bless the rich.
Ya gotta love em.
Anyone who knows about these things, if they obviously had to reveal names and give press conference, why did they create a trust instead of just having lotto cut 3 checks?
VAHopeful, they could of did a blind trust, or some muti trusts way, no one would of got their names!
the lawyer is "real claimer" for trust, they never had to show up them self's! only lawyer
someone got to point this out as will.
for a group of people who manage the assets of individuals and institutions
their oftenly stupid, for not claiming within first 2 weeks
as lottery was earning bank interests past 2 week point, , as all money is within 1 account lottery holds, earning them self free money to keep long as winners take to long. this is what happens
point being, these people let massive amounts of bank interests go by waiting 1 more week. past 2 week point.
now rest is up for debate. should of they gone public.
their smart and dumb"trust claimed, but showed up in person and did it via public trust info, and we have their names,, could of remained hidden but noooooooooooooooooooooooo
, but their not stupid for that, if they want fame they got it! . if they wanted their company name out their, they got that too. so mission done, their names are out their,
sense their planning on giving massive amounts to charity anyway , i guest they jsut did not Care about lost money, ether, way, i would never trust these people to handle my money, if they Lost money by taking so long.
also rofl at tv station missing up, folks, always go to source, usa mega or where usamega gets their numbers, lottery websites them selfs
i always enjoy how some tv station or paper miss printed the numbers, same story ever year, you have people who manuel input the numbers, ofc their going to be a typo
IT was claimed fair and square, sorry that such jealousy runs rampant when the person(s) happen to have common sense and "KNOW" how to manage money in these times. Silly that folks cannot speak well of such fortune when it comes to persons who can invest properly. I'm sure the Store owner will invest his well by placing it in his pocket and in essence NOT sharing the wealth. At least these guys were straight up and are giving back to causes. Pity that it cannot be respected.
I respect them for not "hiding" or being Hermits. All on a one dollar QP! Who woulda thunk it was possible! :)
Congrats to these men !!
Even if the winners had been poor people, they wouldn't have been after claiming their winnings.
Congrats to the winners. I will get the next jackpot and enjoy it.-weshar75
Bitter? Jealous much? You need to see someone about that, dude, these winnings do not belong to you. No one checks anyone's paystub before selling lottery tickets. Better head back to OW before they take your tent down.
Congrats to the winners. It sounds like they will be doing much in the way of charity with this.
Hopefully these idiots who think they are owed something from hard working people who have done well in life will leave these guys along. I'm afraid that won't happen, especially after seeing it on this forum.
It's good that rich guys won. I think we can all agree on that.
When poor people win, they should have the money taken away from them and put in a trust fund so they don't blow it all right away. Then they can be allotted so much a week to get by and not enough for any stupid purchases like fancy cars or anything like that. They need to have someone in charge of their money so they don't get goofy with it.
I think 200 bucks a week should be plenty.
And there should be a law that they have to take baths at frequency levels to be determined by Congress.
rdgrnr -->
<-- jealous losers
You are a crack up RDGRNR!-weshar75
OMG Ridge.... what are you doing??? Mixing 'shine with Jack??? LOL.
remember the novel 1984, all the winners were created and non-existant. this was a ploy to reduce consumption
This is not an accusation! I believe something shady is going on with the big lotteries. Reread the article and pay close attention to all involved.
Who, me?
Everyone seems to believe the story exactly as written. Think again!
Three guys each contribute 33.3 cents to buy a lottery ticket? It took them this long to claim the ticket? Not likely!
They are most likely claiming the ticket for someone else that wants to remain annoymous. They are doing this for the secret winner in exchange for the real winner agreeing to invest a lot of the money in their firm. The 3 so called winners are exactly the type of people a winner may visit to help with the money. It took a couple of weeks to work out the contract.
Good luck.
Nah, that ain't it.
LOL, ya got a good point there, RJ!
Well, thank you, weshar!
No, but that sounds interesting, thanks for the idea, buckeye!
it does seem a little suspicious that these investment guys split 1 ticket three ways. i mean what did two of them give the buyer .33 or .34 cents each when he went up to pay for the gas. highly unlikely they payed cash for the gas anyway and wouldn't have bother to go inside. absolutely are claiming for someone else in return for handling the money and protecting the identity of the winner.
Now Louise, you know you too old to be thinkin about them thirty-something guys.
carry the logic a bit further. they would know the ramifications of the purchaser who paid the 1.00 for the ticket possibly claiming that he didn't receive the pocket change from the others and wants it for himself. they actually created a pool when the 3 of them pulled up for gas. it would only make sense for them to throw in 1.00 each for 3 tickets so there could by no doubt about ownership. being smart investment guys they would know that. postivie now they are claiming it for someone else. nothing wrong with it, but at least there will another drawing for shorter money but another drawing nonetheless.
Hold on! Rdgrnr not so fast come to think about it, I thought they spend a few bucks or they all had winning tickets. A single ticket come on, their either doing as someone said earlier to get better taxes break on their win or something else is going down. They did say they would give some to charity so they can't be all bad or Republicans.
You have got 2 be kidding right!
I was not dreaming. Three guys won the $254.2 Millions Powerball Jackpot with 1 Quick Pick Ticket in Connecticut?
Nah, you're conspiracy hunting, Louise.
These are 3 buddies who made a deal to split if any one of them ever happened to win the big one. I've done it before myself (Usually when I'm drunk).
Who in their right mind is gonna turn over 254 million dollars to some asset managers? And two from one company and one from another company?
Nah.
The only scenario I could see in a conspiratorial way is if it was a clerk who stole the ticket from someone else and gave it to them to cash. But they have probably already checked the tape to see who bought the ticket.
I think it's all legit.
"All three work for a boutique money management firm in Greenwich..."
Like I wrote earlier, do not believe everything you read.
C'mon now Louise, you ain't no spring chicken now. Right?
Right ,but nor am i a granny ,
you can bet ur old kentucky on that! Enough about me there is something going on , we may not never know or should i say find out ,but there is definitely something a little curious.
Well, it'll all come out in the wash and we'll see.
Goodnight, Louise.
No where does it state that they only bought the one ticket. A lot of people buy multiple single line tickets. This way they can hide how much they actually spent when they "win".
Good for them!!
For the life of me, I cannot understand why people like this believe that ALL or MOST people who work hard in the right professions and earn a better than average wage and become relatively wealthy are greedy???!!! So what does that make people who either do not work hard or seek to work in professions that make it highly unlikely they will ever become wealthy unless they win either a huge lawsuit or lottery jackpot? Lazy???!!! People make an ass of themselves when they assume such generalities. The point of playing the lottery is that everyone has a dream, and if the person comes from a position of relative wealth, usually I have seen those dreams manifest in the areas of donating to charity, investing in companies that are successful and productive and that provide jobs, or starting/expanding on a business venture that benefits their local community. The people who come from living paycheck to paycheck usually do a number of things but usually the dreams are more directed toward providing them, their family, and in some cases their friends a lifestyle that they only dreamed of before winning. So don't begrudge anyone who happens to get lucky and win a huge lottery jackpot. We live in America and everyone, no matter what your socioeconomic background, have the freedom to pursue whatever dream you have between those two ears, be they big or small!
Congrats wealth managers....now it is my turn!
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=benefits+of+trusts
Looks like you're not the only one thinking that way - Good Morning America on whether money managers are the "real winner?"
I believe this is what is actually happening. It's fairly brilliant. It's like a double-blind trust. The lawyer is the only one who speaks - on behalf of three asset managers. So the real winner is two levels deep, and doesn't even need to show their face at all. Which is also probably why they won't speak about the circumstances surrounding the purchase of the ticket.
If this isnt an answer to the question; "Do wealthy people play the lottery?", then I dont know what is!
For those of you that dont know the general area where Greenwich is located here's a few facts for you:
Geeenwich is the western most town in The Connecticut Panhandle bordering on The State of New York. It's the westen edge of "The Gold Coast of Connecticut", which extends along Long Island Sound to it's eastern edge in Fairfield, Ct. The Gold Coast contains towns such as Stamford (aka "Wall Street on the Sound"), and Westport which is home to Fox News's Don Imus, Phil Donohue, Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, Martha Stewart once lived in Westport, and NCIS Los Angeles's Linda Hunt. The late host of PBS's "Wall Street Week", Louis Rukeyser, lived on his estate in Greenwich. It's CEO country, with many CEO's of Fortune 500 corporations like IBM's Sam Palmisano living there. (Sam is retiring in a month, his retirement package was estimated at 170 million dollars.)
Remember the "TART" scandal where all those bank exec's that took Federal bailout money for the failing banks they ran, accepted huge year end bonuses, and wouldnt give it back once they were exposed? Many of them live in Fairfield.
You'll see lots of expensive cars, Mercedes, Jaguar's, Porsche's, and Lexus's are the norm. (I think it's quite ironic that many of them still have an "Obama 08" bumper sticker on them!!) Lots of expensive resturants, shops and stores. I once bought a cupcake in a bakery in Westport that cost me 6 bucks!
So like it or not, no matter whose ticket it really is, whoever it is, they already had lots of money, or else they couldnt live in that neck of the woods.
Well, it's not proven with 100% certainty at the moment, but it is a solid working theory: https://www.lotterypost.com/news/239509
Thanks Todd
Who was the first to call it!
1 Quick Pick Ticket Or more tickets bought? What do you think? Great call Mario, do not let ridge see this.
I think 1 ticket. I think they are the kind of player that buys a single ticket for every draw.
Good luck.
Thanks for the link!
Two things:
1.) I know some of you are just like me. Pissed. Pissed that three financially well off guys with great jobs/careers won a fairly large sum in the lottery by purchasing one ticket. And of course, you're not alone. But the fact of the matter is that if you and I believe that the lottery is a truly random game; they have every right to win and this is actually a great thing. Whether you are a charitable millionaire or a greedy convicted felon, once you purchase your ticket or tickets, you have the right and ability to win. So, I may not like it; but it's fair; and the fact that they won, (randomly, I hope), is what I am counting on as well; and, most likely, so are you.
2.) Is it just me or is it odd that 3 financial experts (who generally scoff at the lottery) would not only play, but pool their money to buy ONE ticket? And why wait to claim and go through the trouble of setting up a trust when they waltzed into lotto hq in full view of the press. I thought that was the whole point of setting up a trust. Maybe it's just me or I've watched too many conspiracy documentaries.
Well that's all. Good luck to you and me in joining these lucky sobs.
I dunno why they couldn't just say they were representing someone else. I guess they thought they were protecting the actual winner this way. If only people would just respect the fact that winners want to be private for a reason but everyone thinks that anyone who tries to claim a jackpot anonymously is somehow corrupted covering up something. Um...no, it's because we don't want strangers and charities begging and harrasing us for money!
Now! Rdgrnr isn't it ironic that they did exactly what you said," who in their right mind would do"
you got to admit it was a little suspicious.
"The way we look at it is it's just another example that anyone can win the lottery," Farricker said.
Something to keep in mind whenever you buy a ticket.
Congratulations on these PB winners.
THRIFTY! I'm shocked and appalled!
Just look at the two of you! ------------------>
Louise, you think these guys are slick.
They are.
But they're even slicker than you think they are.