Apparently, $14 million wasn’t enough for one claimant to come forward to collect his or her lottery winnings.
In December 2011, Crawford Shaw tried to redeem the multimillion-dollar winning ticket on behalf of his client. But Shaw refused to identify the winner he represented, and the Iowa Lottery took issue with that. Lottery officials tested and validated the ticket, but wouldn’t pay out the winning millions until Shaw made good with the client’s name.
Shaw had signed the ticket as the trustee for Hexam Investment Trust, but still refused to identify the person who actually purchased the ticket. The Iowa Lottery gave Shaw until 3 p.m. today to either come forward with the name of the winner or lose the millions for good. According to a Thomson Reuters report, Shaw said he is giving up the battle “because I’m not going to argue with the lottery.” He also said he asked a local law firm to pass the message onto lottery officials.
As of yesterday afternoon, lottery officials still hadn’t gotten the official word from the law firm that Shaw is dropping the matter.
