Hot Lotto Trust Representative Refuses to Name Winner

Posted on January 22nd, 2012

The saga of the mysterious Iowa Hot Lotto winner gets more complicated and confusing by the day. The unknown winner of a multimillion dollar jackpot turned in the winning ticket with just hours to spare. A New York Lawyer has been representing the winner and had promised to reveal the winner this week. It appears the lawyer, Crawford Shaw, has gone back on his word and told lottery officials this week that he will not name the winner. An Iowa Lottery spokeswoman told reporters that Shaw did not answer key questions during an earlier meeting.

Shaw refused to name the members of the Hexam Investments Trust, a trust allegedly formed by the winner or winners. Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said that Shaw would not name the person that purchased the winning ticket and how he got it. Neubauer told reporters that the meeting was cordial but investigators told Shaw they could not recommend paying the $7.5 million jackpot until Shaw answered more questions. Neubauer said that Shaw provided lottery officials with a copy of the trust agreement but many details were missing. Neubauer also said that lottery officials will not make the document public during the investigation.

To complicate matters even more recent news reports say that Shaw is facing legal troubles in Delaware. Shaw is being sued because of his involvement in a now-bankrupt company called Industrial Enterprises of America Inc. Shaw was the chief executive of the now defunct company which sold aftermarket motor oil, windshield wiper solution and other automobile fluids. Shaw was forced out of the company in 2005. Shaw successfully sued the company and received a settlement of about $2.3 million. Shaw stated “I sued them and I won. I don’t know anything about this other lawsuit people are talking about.”

The settlement made Shaw a consultant but he was not required to do any actual work or provide any services for the company in exchange for shares of stock which Shaw later sold. The current lawsuit alleges that the terms of the settlement were illegal and that Shaw received stock that was impermissibly issued. The lawsuit claims that company officials used the stock agreements to defraud investors out of an estimated $110 million and force the company into bankruptcy. After Shaw’s ouster two company officials, James Margulies and John Mazzuto were convicted of securities fraud. It is easy to see why Iowa lottery officials are skeptical of Shaw given his past history.