DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A New York attorney on Thursday withdrew his claim on a multi-million dollar Iowa Lottery prize, saying he can't satisfy lottery officials' request for basic information about how he obtained the winning ticket.
Iowa lottery officials had given Crawford Shaw until Friday to provide the identities and contact information of anyone who purchased or possessed the ticket after he submitted it last month under mysterious circumstances. It has been 13 months since the winning ticket was purchased at a Des Moines gas station in Dec. 2010. The payout for the prize would have been $7.5 million cash, cash or $10.3 million spread over 25 years after taxes.
Shaw, 76, of Bedford, N.Y., submitted the ticket for redemption on behalf of a trust on Dec. 29, less than two hours before it expired. Instead of claiming the prize in person, Shaw signed the ticket on behalf of the trust and shipped it by FedEx to a Des Moines law firm he had retained.
Shaw said through a fax Thursday that he doesn't know the identity of the purchaser.
"In order that the claim be resolved without further controversy, Crawford Shaw, as Trustee for and on behalf of the Trust, does hereby withdraw the Claim and does hereby agree to take no further action to enforce the Claim," a fax signed by Shaw reads.
Lottery officials said Shaw had identified his client as Belize-based Hexham Investment Trusts, though he misspelled the name of the trust when he signed the ticket by leaving off the second "h." Shaw claimed not to be a beneficiary of the trust.
Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich said the lottery has asked the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Iowa Attorney General investigate the situation. Those agencies have declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
Rich previously had said that the lottery had received several claims that the ticket was stolen. Also, Iowa law prohibits employees and contractors of the lottery, their relatives and anyone under 21 from playing.
Shaw said Wednesday through the Des Moines-based Davis Brown Law Firm that if the jackpot were paid, the money would be donated to charity. He declined to comment further Thursday.
Rich said it's the strangest situation officials can recall in the 26-year history of the lottery. He declined to speculate on the details of the claim, saying if he knew more than what's been released, lottery officials would probably be writing a check to a winner.
"I'm telling you, if I could take all of the suggestions, it would be a heck of a fun book," Rich said.
Records show Shaw played at least a minor role in the collapse of Industrial Enterprises of America, a chemical company that was looted and bankrupted in 2009 by a stock manipulation scheme. Shaw helped found the company after taking control of a Houston-based shell corporation, serving as its CEO from 2004 to 2005.
Shaw's history also includes lawsuits alleging fraud in Delaware and Texas.
The unclaimed money will go toward future prizes, Rich said.
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Associated Press writer Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, contributed to this report.
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