Today it was revealed that 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. Mega lottery

The men’s story began to unravel today hours after an anonymous man – Mr. Davidson, one of their clients – was said to have bought the $1 quick pick ticket for the November 2 drawing at the Shippan Point BP gas station in Stamford. He allegedly came to the trio to avoid the “hassle” of his name becoming public. Powerball lottery

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. This 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.

Tom Gladstone, a family friend of Mr. Lacoff since he was a boy, said that a client at investment company Belpointe LLC, which was founded by Mr. Lacoff, 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.

“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, realized 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.

“These are clever guys and they will have thought all of this through. I can’t image they would have overlooked anything”.

“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”.

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.

According to the Belpointe website, he “owns a number of properties and businesses throughout the region”.

Mr. Skidmore, the company’s president and chief investment officer, worked as an investment banker for a subsidiary of AXA Financial Services and Citigroup. He is also a former member of the U.S. sailing team who was once an Olympic hopeful and 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.

As for Mr. Davidson, he 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.

What will happen to this story remains to be seen in the next days.