Could they lose the fortune? Rich bankers who 'posed as a front for mystery client' could forfeit $254m Powerball jackpot

For three men who had apparently just won $254m they looked far from ecstatic.



But MailOnline can reveal today the three wealthy bankers who came forward yesterday to claim a record Powerball jackpot were not in fact the real winners - and may now have to hand it back.



The men's story began to unravel today hours after MailOnline revealed that an anonymous man - one of their clients - purchased the ticket but allegedly came to the trio to avoid the ‘hassle’ of his name becoming public.

We can also reveal that t he bankers who allegedly claimed the $254million jackpot on behalf of their 'client' could have lost him his fortune.



Stoic: Tim Davidson, Brandon Lacoff and Greg Skidmore at a press conference to collect the record $254m jackpot yesterday. A family friend who has known Mr Lacoff since he was a boy said they are not the real winners The rules of the Connecticut Powerball state that the winner ‘shall be disclosed’ or the winning ticket could be ruled invalid. The final decision rests with the president of the Connecticut Lottery Company, which runs the draw, and he could throw out their claim. Should that happen it would mean that the entire scheme backfired spectacularly - and leave the charities which have been promised cash out of pocket.

The three men allegedly set up a trust ‘as a front’ so that Tim Davidson, Brandon Lacoff and Greg Skidmore could be the public face of the win. In a further twist, it was also claimed that rather than donate a large proportion of the money to charity, the winner has requested that the majority just be invested for his personal gain. The explosive claims blow apart the fairytale story that Mr Davidson bought the ticket at a gas station in Greenwich Connecticut for $1. It would also explain the bankers' sheepish performance at a press conference to collect their ‘jackpot’, during which they refused to discuss their relationship with each other. It had been suggested that Mr Davidson bought his ticket on November 1 and the following day they realised their numbers had come up, beating odds of 195,249,054 to one.

Big win: The trio poses with Anne M. Noble, CT Lottery President and CEO (left) and Frank Farricker after claiming their prize in Rocky Hill, Connecticut

The jackpot was the largest ever won in Connecticut and the 12th biggest in Powerball history.

It means they will take the after-tax lump sum of nearly $104 million in cash between them.

The Connecticut Lottery Company has failed to return repeated phone calls by MailOnline but its own rules suggest that the plot could leave the bankers - and their client - out of pocket.

The rules state: 'Subject to Connecticut laws and regulations relating to the public disclosure of 'Connecticut MEGA MILLIONS' winners, the name and city/town of the JACKPOT winner shall be disclosed in a press release or press conference and the winner may be requested to participate in a press conference.'

The rules also contain the general warning: 'By submitting an official winning 'Connecticut MEGAMILLIONS' ticket for validation, the Claimant agrees to abide by all applicable laws, rules, regulations, instructions, conditions and final decisions of the President.'

Now, according to a family friend who has known Mr Lacoff since he was a boy, the truth behind what happened is very different.

Tom Gladstone said that a client at investment company Belpointe LLC, which was founded by Mr Lacoff and provides investment advice, much of it to wealthy individuals, was the real winner.

He, Mr Davidson and Mr Skidmore then set up the Putnam Avenue Family Trust which will allow the man to keep out of the spotlight.

Mr Gladstone, a real estate agent who rents Mr Lacoff the Belpointe office space, said: ‘The person who really won it is anonymous.

‘They set up the trust so that Brandon and his two partners could claim they won it and that the real winner wouldn’t get hassled.

‘They have said they are going to give it to charity but they are going to manage the money. They are going to make a donation but they keeping a large proportion of the money and they are going to manage it.

‘The winner is a client of theirs and their clients are a mixture of larger and smaller investors. By Wall St standards they are not big players.





Livin' large: Brandon Lacoff and Greg Skidmore, left and centre, own sprawling properties in Connecticut, while Tim Davidson owns a large home in New York, right



Asset managers: Brandon Lacoff, left, and Greg Skidmore, right

‘They set up the trust as a front to ensure their client anonymity. It clearly took them some time to work it out as they won on November 1, realised the next day and have only now come forward.

‘I saw Brandon last Friday and he didn’t say a word to me. They are smart, rich Greenwich men’.

Mr Gladstone added that he had known Mr Lacoff’s father Marty, an anti-trust lawyer, for 30 years and that the family were ‘hard working people’.

Gladstone speculated that the bankers may have got around the law by signing the name of the trust they had set up.

He said: 'These are clever guys and they will have thought all of this through. I can't image they would have overlooked anything'.

He said: ‘Brandon is a good kid, I don’t know how else to describe him. Obviously the client is putting their faith in him to look after this very substantial amount’.

Winning combination: News of the huge jackpot prompted a search for the elusive ticket holders

According to the story which has been told so far, Mr Davidson bought the $1 quick pick ticket for the November 2 drawing at the Shippan Point BP gas station in Stamford. It was the only ticket he bought.

During the press conference he and his two colleagues sat stoically at a conference table sipping bottled water as Jason Kurland, the group's attorney, answered questions but declined to address basic issues about the win.

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

‘From the first conversation I had with them, it was very philanthropic.Charities was definitely, probably No. 1 on their priority list.'

As they were leaving the news conference, Mr Skidmore stopped at the microphone to identify himself and his partners and said: 'And it feels good,’ before leaving the room.

The winning numbers were 12-14-34-39-46, Powerball 36.

Lottery officials had used billboards across the state to urge the ticket holder to come forward as the weeks went by without a winner.

Mr Kurland said the group called him the day after the draw.

Mr Kurland said: 'They thought they were the winners, and then, that night, I think, one of the local TV stations had the numbers, and the Powerball number was wrong on the TV screen, so that put them into a little bit of a tizzy.

'But the news, to their credit, corrected it a few hours later, and they were confident they had it.'

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Belpointe manages $82million which makes it a boutique investment firm by the standards of many New York finance houses.

Mr Lacoff was an accountant for Ernst & Young before founding an investment company known Belray capital, which became Belpointe LLC.

He 'owns a number of properties and businesses throughout the region,' according to the Belpointe website.

Mr Skidmore, the company's president and chief investment officer, formerly worked as an investment banker for a subsidiary of AXA Financial Services and Citigroup.

He is a former member of the U.S. sailing team who was once an Olympic hopeful, according to the company's website.

He is also the grandson of Louis Skidmore, the notable American architect and founder of the firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, which created the Sears Tower in Chicago amongst other buildings.

Mr Davidson started his career at a French bank where he worked in foreign exchange before moving on to advise companies, hedge funds and 'ultra high worth’ individuals.

When MailOnline called Mr Lacoff’s mansion in Greenwich, a woman answered the phone and said: ‘He’s not in. He is not taking calls at the moment. Bye’.





Sheepish: the trio from Greenwich, Connecticut, at the press conference yesterday

Family man: Greg Skidmore was a former member of the U.S. sailing team and an Olympic hopeful, before becoming a father





Asset management: The website of Belpointe, the company the trio founded after careers in financial services