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.
HAHAHA!
That's a good idea to do if I win. Tell them it was my first time buying a lottery ticket!
I love it!
I am sick of people obsessing over who the "real" winner is. If a "real" winner exists (which I do think is the case), it is their business to remain private. The media needs to find real things to report on.
there seems to be some disbeleif in the fact 3 RICH guys would only buy 1 ticket.
you people obviously dont know many rich guys; they're real cheapskates.
"But how do we know he didn't buy three $1 tickets or fifteen $1 tickets or thirty $1 tickets?"
Or how do we know if the other 2 guys didn't buy one ticket, three, fifteen, or thirty with the idea of splitting all the tickets?
When people go to lottery headquarters to validated their winning ticket, I seriously doubt they bring in all their losing tickets too. After reading some of the remarks, I'm wondering if some have ever bought multiple tickets because many stores give me 10 separate $1 tickets when I ask for "ten QPs". I suppose the only reason to call it a $1 ticket is to distinguish it from a $2 Powerplay ticket and not intended to fool all the people believing three players pooled $1.
While it's true those 3 guys werent identified as wealthy, if you know the region where they hail from, and you take a look at Belpointe's website, it can easily be seen they're very well heeled. The "Bel" in Belpointe stands for Brandon E. Lacoff, one of the three "winners". Belpointe is a company started by Lacoff. It's also true his firm is a "boutique" asset management firm, in that it's small in comparison to the major Wall Street asset management firms. But believe you me, he aint hurtin' when it comes to his own personal wealth.
Here's an idea, kick Connecticut out of MM and PB along with New York and California.
Those states can have their own lottery and win it all day long. People from Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, etc. never win.
A good and valid point RR. It's very possible he did buy three $1 tickets, or who knows how many indivdual one dollar tickets??
And I think it's a pretty safe bet that with the exception of that single winning ticket, all of other tickets were losers. Nobody talks about tickets that are losers the way people talk about the ticket that wins big.
And to you last point, hell, trying to develope a theory based upon the word of people who are under oath, can be an exercise in futility too!
Dont get me wrong. I dont care who really won. But there's a side of me that says somethin is kinda shaky here. I do think if they are in fact a front for somebody else, it's one helluva good and original idea.
I once bought a $10 PB QP. The kid behind the counter asked me if I wanted ten separate tickets or was 10 lines on one ticket OK?
I said; "What the hells the difference? It dont make no neverminds tuh me!"
To my surprise, the kid said; "I dunno what the difference is, but you'd be amazed at the number of people who want 10 separate tickets."
Live and learn and to each his own.
The reason they ask is, if you take the 10 picks on one ticket the numbers run concurently if you take 10 seperate tickets the computer has to generate 10 seperate tickets with 10 different sets of numbers that they have to generate not just run them concurent with the first set of numbers.
Buy $5.00 worth on one ticket and $5.00 on seperate tickets and see how the numbers will be a lot different on the seperate tickets. That on the all on one ticket you get repeat Powerball numbers where on the seperate tickets you get five different Powerball numbers, unless you want all the same Powerball number. This was explained by a retailer that sells a lot of tickets in my area of WI. They said thats why most people will ask for seperate tickets even it's $2.00 on up.
Now on these gentlemen that won, I think something is amiss here. First a guy called and said he lost the Ticket, then these three come up with the Ticket. I know it's possible to win on a $1.00 Ticket, but CT.? There are more people in Dallas/ Fort Worth probably than in CT and they hardly have a winner and Texas is one of the states that is a actual Mega Million state that and Illinois and they haven't had a JackPot winner in forever and they are also a original not a add on state that just sells Mega Million tickets.
Why is it that when the JackPots get real Big is it New York, CT, California , or some of the other east coast cities that are on the list for being the most luckiest place to win the lottery jackpots. I mean at 180 million to one odds and it's always one of those states that win the Big ones, it does seem like both PowerBall and Mega Millions knows where and when the winner is going to be. Every now and again they throw a token state in there that hasn't won in a while just so people don't get mad. I had posed this question to our state lottery board, they told me it's run by computers and you can't do anything to them, I say if it's a computer chip it can be told what to do and when. My son is a computer geek, and he agreed with me, a computer does what you tell it what to do, when and how. This is just my little low life opinion, so please don't jump on my back, it's bad enough as it is. lol
Pardon, Here in America when the "title" is President and CEO/CFO, they pretty much run the business and its FINANCIALS. IT has ZERO to do with the policy of management for its accounts. If you care to disprove such then follow thru with evidence , please do so, otherwise recheck the facts jack.
ANd to the folks here who are natural skeptics on these guys, what does it really matter to YOU?? Its clearly not your money and not your real business to know if they are "fronting". I still beleive in honesty and these guys winning fair and square, none of you would think twice if they were preachers or down on their luck and won. ITs when someone who is "educated" , well versed and seasoned with how to manage money that boogles the average set mind to see them Claim such an amount. The lottery doesnt discriminate between a persons no sense or common sense or how they are employed....
Ask the President at the bank you deal with if they personally own all the money in the vault.
Good luck.
Connecticut is a fishy spot, New York and California should get together and create a 2 state game they will do fine.
Much of what you said in your post, LottoLin, is very true.
I guess I could be called a "computer geek" too. I'm a retired data processing professional. I worked hand in glove with many IBM mainframe computer programmers for over 30 years in a large datacenter. You're right, a computer can only do what a programmer tells it to do. And, a computer program can be tampered with, or a program might simply have a "bug" in the code which could cause it to provide erroneous output. There are even some programmers that deliberately write malicious programs that can harm software running on your computer. Those kinds of programs are referred to as computer viruses.
The type of computer programs that generate lines of numbers to be printed on a lottery ticket are known as "Random Number Generators". They're used to randomly generate a "string" or line of numbers. Do they always generate repeat Powerball numbers all on one ticket? That's a definite maybe. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they dont. But I agree with you, they sure seem to me like they always do that! And I hate that!
As for all the big jackpots being won in New York or California, well, those two states do have a lot more lottery players living in them compared to a state such as Wyoming. Which simply means more tickets are sold in those states than in a state such as Kansas, where there arent nearly as many lottery players living there. With more tickets being sold in some states than others, the chances are pretty good that the winning ticket will be sold in the states where the most tickets are sold. The same phenominom happens within the confines of the borders of The State of New York. Everybody living in upstate NY will tell you most of the jackpot winners always come from New York City. (downstate)
Whether the lottery playing public living in other states likes it or not, New York's lottery is the largest and most profitable lottery in North America. And that's simply because they sell the most tickets.
C'mon man. These are already rich. They won't even appreciate the money because they already filty rich. They just steal the dream of someone who really need to win the money away. This is not fair. That money won't do them any good. The rich people are to greedy.
Are you kidding me? Those state win often
Does Connecticut give winners a choice if they win, or do have to claim publicly?
You'd think if the state was progressive enough to allow a choice, then these mugs should have taken it.
Does Lottery Post still have that link which lists how you can claim in each state? Might be neat to see if now.
Everyone who wins should have a choice. We can't have any more players end up like Abraham Shakepear down in Florida.
Just let winners have to the right to remain anonymous. I can't understand the media's obsession with knowing the identity of lottery winners. We don't have that in Australia, people are happy for the winners and hope it will be their turn next week. People also feel that if they do win, they don't want the media hunting them down.
Here is the truth people. Listen very carefully. I already know they will block me for telling the truth, but I have to tell the truth. According to a secret insiders, the whole lottery thing is a scam. There is no random in the lottery because they already know which numbers gonna come up. they let people when small jackpot, but when the jackpot get really high, the money go back to them. How? They will have somebody act like a winner, and they pay the person under the table. The lottery is perhap the biggest scam which nobody doing anything about. Ask yourself this. If it sounds to good to be true, then it is not true. Thy are using the law of attraction to make people think that life is easy. Here is my advice. Stop wasting all ya hard earn little money when ya could be using it in a wiser way. This is why they say the rich is getting richer, and the poor is getting poorer. Again this is the truth I tell you. If you want it, the take. And if you don't, then don't take it. I can guarantee you that oneday you are going to realize that playing the lottery is waste of money. Ask yourself this question. How many times did the Jackpot get really high, and you feel hype and never win nothing? Not once, but many time. Take my advice into consideration because like I said its from a secret insider source. I know the system will not allow me to post any more comment, but thats ok because I let the truth out.
So, exactly how much did you lose recently?
In the past three years, I've lost $25,000.
I lost everything. Because of the lottery addiction, I did things I never thought I would do. I had to lie and sometimes steal.
Sorry to hear that but you know the odds on the lottery say you're going to lose almost all of the time.
You have to bet accordingly.
On the big jackpot games, it's basically just a shot in the dark.
Spending all your money on the lottery is like taking a leak in the ocean - it really doesn't have much effect on anything. The odds are like 195 million to one on Powerball. Whether you put one dollar or one hundred dollars on it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. The odds against you are still daunting either way.
I don't believe the big jackpot games are rigged. They're just engineered to make it almost impossible to win.
But if you buy just one ticket, your odds are basically the same as anybody else's to win the jackpot.
I hope everything works out for you.
Great advice. Thanks
100% agree.
The United States culture is such that it feels the public has the right to know just about everything.
Actually that's wrong.
I know this for a fact because I know one of my mom's friends who won a large jackpot. I believe it was over 100 Million, cash option.
This person was not an insider or whatever you think.
That's all I will say.
I also know a personal friend's father who won 1 million (cash option again) in NJ's Pick 6 like 15 years ago.
KY Floyd - you might have hit the head on the nail!!!
But that's the thing.... we feel we are being lied to. That's the entire reason for our questions.
Most of us here do believe in winners staying anonymous. However, 3 guys on 1 quick pick? C'mon! And with the knowledge they have - they would remain anonymous if they were the real winners! And if they did buy more than 1 QP, they probably would have said something about that.
It's fishy alright.
Now, if they came out and said "Yes, you are all correct, we are fronting for someone who wants to remain anonymous." - that would be all I'd care about. However, the media would follow them forever until they figured out who the real winner was, which would be too bad.
So I don't think we'll ever know the answer.
That's the balance that's hard to reconcile.
We want anonymity for ourselves but we want to know who the other winners are so we're sure there's no hanky-panky going on with our beloved lottery officials doling out jackpots to friends and relatives.
And we can't have it both ways.
You know it is quite possible that they bought just 1 QP with no serious intentions of winning. They know the odds are high for anyone regardless and perhaps they bought the ticket just for kicks. It could be just coincidence that that ticket happened to be the winner. I know that's hard to believe when the rich win the lottery.
I'm going to erect a monolithic marble obelisk on top of one of my ridges and dedicate it to America's rich people.
Everyone will be invited for the unveiling and to pay tribute to America's rich people.
I'll be needing some seed money to get started.