Trio who won $245M gives $1M to vets groups

Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn.

A trio of money managers who shared a $254 million Powerball jackpot said Sunday they were kicking off the first of many charitable donations by splitting a $1 million gift among five veterans-service organizations.

The Putnam Avenue Family Trust announced through a spokesman that donations of $200,000 each were being given to the five groups for their work helping veterans and military members who recently have returned from deployments.

The trust was created by Greenwich wealth-fund managers Greg Skidmore, Brandon Lacoff and Tim Davidson after they learned they had won the jackpot, which they claimed Nov. 28 at Connecticut Lottery headquarters. The jackpot was the largest won in Connecticut and the 12th biggest in Powerball history.

Thomas Gladstone, who identified himself as the landlord for the men’s company, said afterward that Lacoff told him they were representing a fourth person who didn’t want his identity disclosed, but the men’s lawyer and a spokesman for their Putnam Avenue Family Trust have said the speculation is false, and there is no fourth winner.

They promised at the time they claimed the jackpot that they would kick off their charitable donations with $1 million within 10 days and said in a statement Sunday that they “cannot think of a more urgent priority than addressing the needs of those men and women who have defended our nation.”