'Lottery-triumphant' American assets managers refute fourth guy

Three American wealth bosses who picked up a $254m (£163m) lottery top prize refuse claims they just collected the cheque for the genuine victor, their client.

Greg Skidmore, Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson came onward as the winners at a news conference on Monday.

They said Mr. Davidson purchased the $1 ticket at a petrol station and they had formed a confidence to manage the funds.

But a friend said the genuine winner was a customer who wanted to remain unidentified.

Thomas Gladstone, who is apparently a landholder for the men's company, said he had said Mr. Lacoff on Monday to ask him about the Powerball win.

"He said, 'no, I didn't win the lottery. We're instead of the guy who did,"' Mr. Gladstone told the Associated Press news agency. "He said he stands for the man who's staying unidentified."

Mr. Gladstone said he was told the three asset managers were securing the actual winner by putting his money in a trust.

The real winner was a customer of the guy's firm who does not want advertisement, because people "get stressed and pursued when they success the lottery", Mr. Gladstone added.

The three guys are from Greenwich, Connecticut, one of the most prosperous towns in the US.

They work for Belpointe investment consultants, which has about $82m in assets under management, according to Securities and Exchange Commission papers.

A statement from the three men's Putnam Avenue Family Trust rejected the assertion of a fourth man.

"There has been much rumor and quite a bit of propaganda over the last 24 hours," said the statement.

"To be obvious, there are a total of three trustees and there is no unidentified fourth contributor," it added.

The trust also declared that in the next coming 10 days, $1m would be contributed to causes to help military veterans in the area.

"The three trustees think this the first stop on what we see as a trip of charity in the months and years to come," the statement said.

Chris Sandys, a collection manager at Belpointe, told Reuter news agency that the company was not permitted to remark on a "customer issue".

Lottery authorities said the three men's top prized say had met all "appropriate regulations and truth standards".

They further said that "it is not rare for Powerball winners to be unnamed as persons, trusts, partnerships or other lawful body".