Multi-State Lottery Association security director Eddie Raymond Tipton has been charged with fraud after allegedly hacking the computer that picks the winning numbers.
Eddie Raymond Tipton was arrested in January by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations.
Prosecutors said he had been caught on CCTV buying the winning ticket. The $14.3 million prize was never claimed.
Eddie Raymond Tipton, 51, denies the charges.
Citing court papers filed by prosecutors in the case, the Des Moines Register said Eddie Raymond Tipton “may have inserted a thumb drive into a highly locked-down computer that’s supposed to generate the random numbers used to determine lottery winners”.
The offline computer is housed in a glass room and in theory can only be accessed by two people at the same time. It is also constantly monitored by a video camera.
It is alleged Eddie Raymond Tipton used his position as security director to change the video camera settings and record only one second in every minute. This would have given him enough time to enter the room and plug a thumb drive into the computer.
On that drive, according to the prosecution, was a rootkit: a stealthy computer program designed to do a specific task and, in this case, then erase itself.
That task was to predetermine the winning lottery numbers for the draw that Eddie Raymond Tipton was to later buy the winning ticket for.
As a member of staff, Eddie Raymond Tipton was not allowed to win the lottery himself.
The court filings suggest there was an attempt to claim the prize just hours before it was scheduled to expire by a company incorporated in Belize.
If found guilty of the two charges of fraud, Eddie Raymond Tipton faces up to 5 years in jail and a fine of up to $7,500.
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