On November 29, I wrote a blog post about 3 Connecticut wealth managers winning $254 million in the Powerball lottery. At the time, I found it curious that all three of them were accepting the prize through a trust, known as the Putnam Avenue Family Trust.
I speculated that the “Putnam Avenue Family Trust is merely a temporary holding entity. After the trust collects the funds, it will then shortly thereafter distribute the shares among the three winners (or their newly formed legal entities).”
Then, responding to media speculation, I asked in a subsequent post whether or not they were using the trust to hide a fourth or real winner.
Now, it looks like I was right the first time.
In a New York Times Article titled, “It’s Official: 3 Asset Managers Will Share Huge Jackpot,” it is revealed that the beneficiary of the Putnam Avenue Family Trust “has been revealed as a second entity, called the Western Putnam Avenue Trust” and the “three men have stated in an affidavit that they are the only beneficiaries of that trust, which will receive all the assets held by the first trust when it expires on Nov. 22, 2012.”
Their lawyer stated what I initially thought, that “his three clients were not hiding anything, and that the trust structure was intended for privacy and to give the trustees certain options for planning their estates.”
No conspiracy, just smart planning.