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Vol. 15, No. 18, Wednesday, April 1, 2020 www.LamontLeader.com
$50 million lottery winner tells story of big win, bad investment and court victory Former Lamont resident writes two books about being a victim of white collar crime BY JANA SEMENIUK Since winning a whopping $50 million on a lucky lotto max draw in 2015, former Lamont resident Randy Rush has not only had incredible highs in his life, but painful lows as well. His experiences are chronicled in a new book entitled ‘13 Billion to One’ coming out in June of 2020. “There are some things in life you never forget,” said Rush. “And the feeling of seeing that I won $50 million is one of them.” In Feb. 2015, Rush made a late-night run to the local Lamont Grocery store to get cat food for his Maine Coon ‘Conway Kitty’ when he saw a stack of old lottery tickets sitting on a table by the door. “I saw the stack on my way out (of his house) and figured I’d better take them and check them while I was at the store,” he said. “You never know.” Rush could not believe his eyes when he held the last ticket up to the manual ticket checker and $50,000,000 flashed across the screen. “I took it away and held it up again. Finally, the clerk looked at me and asked if I was ok. I told her ‘I think I won!’” he said. The clerk, whose name was changed to protect her privacy in his biography, ‘13 Billion to One’, confirmed his win on her machine. Then his life changed forever. Rush began his new life with quitting his job, purchasing real estate, and making sure those he loved were well taken care of. “I gave the store clerk who checked my ticket a cheque,” he said. “I’ve also travelled to Uganda to help build schools and made sure my mom was looked after.” He also took care of his friends. Dave and Shirley Crawford had been going to the same church with Rush in Fort
Over the next several months, Rush Saskatchewan for five years. “I knew they were struggling finan- said he funnelled more than $4.5 million to cially,” said Crawford’s Rush. “I company. had already “I was been helpfeeling a lot ing them of red flags out here about the and there arrangeover the ment. There years, so I was a lot of bought a excessive log cabin in spending B.C. and and he told them if (Jeremy) they would was asking like to for more move in money,” he and take s a i d . care of the “Jeremy place, I seemed to would pay have an them $2,500 answer for a month. everything. They could live there Former Lamont resident, and $50 million lottery win- Whenever I rent free.” ner, Randy Rush, with his first non-fiction brought my Rush added book Bloodsuckers, and second book, a biography concerns to or that the entitled 13 Billion to One due to be released in June Dave S h i r l e y, Crawfords of 2020. they would accepted put their arms around me and say, his offer. He also included that not long after ‘Jeremy is the last person you have to he cashed in his winning ticket, he worry about. We raised him right.” Rush added that once he got his own received a phone call from Dave and managers and accountants involved Shirley’s son Jeremy. “Jeremy spoke to me about his com- things began to unravel quickly. “They found Jeremy had embezzled pany KultID and told me it was developing a mobile app. The investment $1.5 million from the company within sounded very exciting,” said Rush. six months, among other things,” said “Because these were people I knew and Rush. Rush also hired a lawyer to sort out loved, I didn’t vet the situation like I should have. There was a lot of good- the financial details and help him recoup some of his investment. He will there.” In spite of Rush promising himself soon realized he was not the only viche would not invest in anything for a tim. “I started fighting him (Jeremy) in year, the opportunity sounded too court. That’s when I met some of his good to pass up.
other victims,” said Rush. “People started seeking me out to let me know Jeremy had done this to them too (allegedly). I hired investigators to start digging and finding out what was going on.” What was allegedly uncovered, according to Rush, was 20 years worth of suspicious activities, and a huge number of investors who say they were taken advantage of and lost money. “Some victims are too embarrassed to speak publicly. Some are still paying off debts,” he said. Rush added that the saddest story he heard was of a young immigrant couple who invested their savings to acquire a home and subsequently lost everything. He warns people to be aware. Rush now feels that he has a new mission in life. “I realized that I was given this money, this great opportunity, to shut Jeremy down and make sure he could not do this to anyone else,” he said. Spending nearly half a million dollars in legal fees taking Crawford to court, Rush said he was able to recoup just over half of his investment in KultID upon a judgement awarded to him in 2017. Rush felt compelled to share the experience in an expose’ he commissioned entitled ‘BloodSuckers’ that was released earlier this year. “I really wanted to draw awareness to white collar crime. It’s a huge issue,” he said. Once ‘Bloodsuckers’ began to take shape, Rush realized there was more than one story to be told. “I realized there was still so much to tell. So, I had ‘13 Billion to one’ commissioned to tell even more of the story,” said Rush. ‘13 Billion to One’ will be available on June 24, which also happens to be Rush’s 54th birthday.