Re:US lottery security boss charged with fixing draw
by exelius on Tuesday April 14, 2015 @01:39PM
(#9375936)
See, all of this makes me wonder how smart this guy actually is. It feels like he had a half-baked plan, but being a security chief for the lottery, he should have known all of the checks they have to go through before someone can claim a prize.
It seems like this type of scheme is really, really hard to pull off because of financial records retention requirements. No matter what you do, the money trail will catch up with you. Unless you're a drug cartel laundering billions through HSBC. Then you get away with it because the scale is so audacious, the justice system doesn't have any way to deal with it without taking down the global financial system.
> The ticket Tipton has been accused of buying went unclaimed for almost a year, until Hexham Investments Trust, a mysterious company incorporated in Belize, tried to claim the prize through Crawford Shaw, a New York attorney, hours before the ticket was set to expire in 2011.
> Lottery officials refused to release the prize because those behind the trust declined to give their identities, which is required under Iowa law. Shaw asked officials whether Hexham Investments could claim the money and then turn it over to the state to be given out for charity. Lottery officials rejected the offer and said the prize winner must accept and distribute the funds.
> Shaw withdrew the claim to the prize in January 2012. At that time, Iowa Lottery officials asked the Iowa Attorney General's Office and Iowa DCI to investigate.
They don't hand $14m out without making sure the buyer is legit - - and an attorney claiming it on a behalf of a foreign company is definitely worthy of investigation.