3 Conn. money managers: No secret lottery winner

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Three money managers awarded a $254 million Powerball jackpot said Tuesday there's no fourth participant despite a claim they're covering for a winner who wants to stay anonymous.

Greg Skidmore, Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson, who work at an asset management firm in Greenwich, one of the most affluent towns in America, came forward as the lottery winners Monday. Their lawyer said they formed a trust to manage the money after Davidson bought the $1 winning ticket at a Stamford gas station.

But Thomas Gladstone, who identified himself as the landlord for the men's company, said he was surprised to learn Lacoff was among the winners because he made no mention of it when he saw him Friday. So Gladstone called Lacoff on Monday night.

"He said, 'No, I didn't win the lottery. We're representing the guy who did,'" Gladstone said. "He said he represents the guy who's staying anonymous."

Asked who the real winner is, Gladstone said, "They're protecting him. That's the whole purpose of putting this in this trust."

He said the real winner, a client of the men's firm, wants anonymity because people "get harassed and hounded when they win the lottery."

His claim was first reported by the Daily Mail newspaper of Britain.

A statement from the men's Putnam Avenue Family Trust said "there has been much speculation and quite a bit of misinformation over the last 24 hours." It said the trust was established to manage the winnings to help those who can benefit from the money.

"And to be clear, there are a total of three trustees and there is no anonymous fourth participant," the statement said.

The trust promised to distribute $1 million in the next 10 days to organizations in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area that help veterans.

"The three trustees consider this the first stop on what we see as a journey of philanthropy in the months and years to come," the statement said. "We recognize that we have been literally blessed with a winning hand when it came to playing a simple game of chance. We also recognize that, as a result, we have a moral obligation to ensure these dollars are put to their best possible use in the shortest possible time to help the broadest number of people in need."

Gladstone said the anonymous winner is the beneficiary of the trust.

But a trust spokesman, Gary Lewi, insisted there is no secret lottery winner.

"I am afraid Mr. Gladstone is mistaken," he said.

The men's attorney, Jason Kurland, did not return repeated telephone calls, an email and Facebook messages Tuesday. Messages also were left with the men.

Connecticut Lottery Corporation president Anne Noble said she could not confirm or deny rumors swirling around the prize. She said officials are processing the payout for the winners who came forward Monday.

"The Connecticut lottery followed its policies and procedures, and we are obliged to pay the bearer of the instrument," she said.

Lottery winners in Connecticut are generally determined by who is holding the ticket, which is why authorities urge winners to sign the backs of their tickets. Winners are designated as public information under Connecticut's freedom of information laws.

Lottery officials said they processed the jackpot claim "in accordance with applicable rules and integrity standards."

"It is not uncommon for Powerball winners to be identified as individuals, trusts, partnerships or other legal entities," the lottery said in a statement.

Kurland said Monday that the men contacted him immediately after the Nov. 2 drawing and came forward after making plans for the money. He said that the trust will take the after-tax lump sum of $103,586,824.51 cash and that a significant amount will go to charity.

"Obviously, everybody is extremely excited," Kurland said. "These numbers are huge. This is going to benefit many people."

The jackpot was the largest won in Connecticut and the 12th biggest in Powerball history. The largest previous lottery jackpot in Connecticut was $59.5 million in June 2005.

The three men work at Belpointe, which provides investment advice, much of it to wealthy people, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company manages $82 million, according to the SEC.

The men declined to describe their relationships with one another, how they came to buy a $1 ticket together or what they would do with the money, except to say that Connecticut charities would benefit from the windfall.

Gladstone defended the move.

"I think it's the first time somebody gave it careful thought and did a smart thing," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Melia contributed to this report.

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10 Helping Tips to Improve Your Budget

By: Regina Hoover

1.) Determine your priorities.

The majority people’s budgets revolve around three expenses: food, shelter, and transportation. After you budget for those operating expenses, which usually account for between half to two-thirds of your take-home pay, and aspect in any debt payments, decide how to prioritize personal savings, household expenses, professional expenses, and entertainment.

2.) Join the power of a Web tool.

You can upload in the web your account information and can immediately see into it where your money is going to. You can then use that information to start saving more money, just in time for back-to-school season.

3.) Set a Time Frame for Yourself.

When you decide you need to buy a specific item—a new phone, for example, or a new computer—give yourself a specific time bound to make the buying, such as a one hour.

4.) Ponder the year, not just the month.

Planning for the year is better largely because we feel less assured in our monthly guesstimates, so add more of a buffer for unanticipated outgoings.

5.) Set cash aside for vacation.

Most people get the most pleasure out of spending on leisure activities, such as movie theater tickets, and relaxations, partly and vacations because these things commonly include spending time with other people. Bear in mind to save some money for such excitement inducing pleasures.

6.) Reflect your right and wrong points.

A swift evaluation of where you went wrong—and right—over the past few months will help identify your faults. Did you end up buying an expensive plane tickets because you’ve waited too long to purchase it? Or did you purchased an over prices gifts? Don’t just beat yourself up; consider the good decisions you made, too, whether it was comparing rates before buying a new laptop or making more homemade meals for you or the for family.

7.) Do the Diary Challenge.

List down every single thing you spend with your money, along with notes on why and how it made you feel. You will discover where your money went. Instead of lunches out and cab rides, you might be wasting money on coffee and anything else you don’t expected. From there you can control your expenditures and savings.

8.) Avoid the test of Temptation.

If you were on a diet, would you stare at chocolate mousse cake all day? Of course not. So why do we torment ourselves by allowing catalogues full of shiny, new electronic gadgets or tempting new pair of expensive high heels shoes to come through our mails slot every day? Terminate them.

9.) Recompense yourself

Diets that force people to remove almost everything tasty from their meals never seem to have much success. That code applies to money, too. Denying ourselves every material pleasure turns money into a sad subject, instead of an empowering one. After all, you work hard for your money, so it should bring you some pleasure.

10.) Share your budgeting aims with friends.

Whether you want to stop wasting money on unnecessary shopping trips or pay off your credit card debt, share those goals with friends and perhaps even strangers. Share what you aim to other like in blogs so others can relate and be open minded to do what you are doing.

Here's a good website to check out:
"Studio Quality Portraits For Less"

Click Here

Here's another good website to check out:
"Green Cleaning Products" - Click Here
 

Here's another good website to check out:
"Bibles New and Used" - Click Here

 

Here's another good website to check out: "Don't Get Burned By Driver Update Scams
or Fake Anti-Virus Scams" - Click Here

 

"Free E-Book About Free E-Books"

Click Here

 

Here's another good website to check out: "How To Adjust & Repair Your Sewing Machine" - Click Here - We may turn this "Book on paper" into an E-Book in the future, if enough people want it. If you are one of those who would buy it, please let us know.

Here's another good website to check out:

"Affiliated Website Designers" - Click Here

Here's a good Forum to check out:
"Dachshund Forum" Click Here

Here's a good reference on Forums, where you can find lots of information on just about any problem: Click Here

Copyright 2011 by Preston Smith,
Silver Dollar Press,
an Affiliate of Walker Enterprises.

All Rights Reserved.