US cops arrest suspected fraudster over massive unclaimed lottery win

Police in Iowa have arrested a lottery employee after he allegedly rigged the draw and tried to get someone else to claim the massive $14 million cash prize.

Authorities believe Eddie Raymond Tipton, the security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association in Iowa, bought a Hot Lotto ticket in 2011 despite being prohibited from doing so.

A New York lawyer then claimed the $14.3 million prize just hours before it expired, only to withdraw his claim to the prize.

Police appealed for public assistance in October after a baffling three years investigating the apparent scam.

Initially police were unsure as to whether a fix was in, or if someone had legitimately won the ticket and become the victim of a crime.

But after releasing a video of a suspect purchasing the ticket in a convenience store, a former colleague of Tipton's came forward with suspicions of her own.

Subsequently police were able to string together various pieces of evidence that seem to put Tipton in the frame.

Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation says Tipton contacted two men after the prize was drawn, including the lawyer, Crawford Shaw, as well as another man in Canada.

State prosecutors say that the Canadian gave them information in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich says the case is one of the strangest in the history of lottery.

"We believe this is the largest lottery jackpot every to be claimed, only to have that claim withdrawn," he told the Associated Press.