IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – After Robert Rhodes collected a Wisconsin Lottery jackpot that had been rigged by his friend, he used the windfall for an investment scheme that produced another wave of undeserved government money, court records show.
Rhodes, an accomplice in a scandal that has shaken state lotteries, recently explained under oath how he used the $783,000 payout to receive an additional $180,000 in bogus tax refunds. The Texas businessman sent his lottery winnings offshore to buy a phony insurance policy for a personal corporation that never did any business – except receive the lottery prize. He then claimed the policy as a tax-deductible “business expense.”
