Powerball winners’ names remain a mystery

DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa Lottery officials should know by Friday whether they can make public the names of the 20 Quaker plant workers in Cedar Rapids who recently claimed a share of a $241 million Powerball jackpot.

Eighteen men and two women who work in the plant's shipping department each received about $5.6 million after they turned in a Powerball ticket June 20 that matched the winning numbers for the largest jackpot prize ever won in Iowa since the state lottery started in 1985. “The Shipping 20” group, ranging in age from 35 to 64 and living in and around Cedar Rapids, chose to receive the jackpot as the lump-sum option of $160.3 million -- $112 million after federal and state taxes were deducted.

Before claiming the multimillion-dollar prize, the unidentified winners took legal steps to form “The Shipping 20” trust and had their attorney inform Iowa Lottery officials that they intended to seek a court order preventing the state from making their names public. The winners would only allow lottery officials to use their first names in a news release announcing that they had claimed the jackpot and during a news conference held at lottery headquarters in Des Moines on the day the winning ticket was verified.

Lawyers for the trust informed lottery officials that the members of The Shipping 20 trust, which was organized in Linn County District Court, want their individual names to remain confidential and intend to request an injunction to keep that information private.

Joe Day, a Cedar Rapids attorney representing the trust, declined to comment Tuesday, saying he could not divulge client information on the matter.

Terry Rich, the chief executive officer for the Iowa Lottery, told the agency's oversight board last week that he intended to release the names publicly on Friday unless a court order was in place that put the action on hold pending further proceedings. Lottery officials have said they believe the names are public and should be disclosed, but they agreed to give the group 10 business days to seek an injunction.

Geoff Greenwood of the Iowa Attorney General's Office said Tuesday that his office had not been notified of any court filing regarding the Powerball issue.

Requests for release of the names were made by at least two newspapers under the state's open records law.