MADISON, Wis. – The Latest on a plea agreement with a lottery computer programmer at the center of a nationwide jackpot-fixing scandal: (all times local):
4:40 p.m.
Prosecutors will ask for 25 years in prison for a lottery computer programmer who's admitting to rigging jackpots in multiple states.
A plea agreement released Monday shows former Multi-State Lottery Association security director Eddie Tipton has agreed to plead guilty to felony charges in Iowa and Wisconsin. Prosecutors will seek a 25-year term for him in Iowa.
The document says his brother, Tommy Tipton, will plead guilty to theft charges in Iowa. The brother has agreed to recommend that he serve 75 days in jail.
The document calls for the brothers to pay back a total of $3 million in lottery winnings that were linked to rigged drawings in Colorado, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Kansas. They've also agreed to tell investigators "all facts related, directly or indirectly, to their actions to fix, win and claim lottery jackpots."
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2:45 p.m.
A former lottery computer worker at the center of a multi-state scandal has pleaded guilty in Wisconsin.
The plea is Eddie Tipton's first admission of guilt since his arrest in 2015.
Prosecutors in Madison charged Eddie Tipton, who now resides in Texas, with racketeering, theft and computer crime in December. Tipton pleaded guilty Monday to theft and one count of computer crime. The rest of the charges were dismissed.
Tipton was security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association. He installed software code that picked numbers for member lotteries. Investigators say Tipton supplied a friend with the winning combination in the 2007 Megabucks game and the two men split the $783,000 jackpot.
Tipton still faces additional charges in Iowa. Prosecutors say the conspiracy netted winnings in four states.
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