Chief of Ontario lottery corporation dismissed

The head of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation was dismissed fromthe scandal-plagued organization on Friday, CBC News has learned.

CEO Duncan Brown was escorted out of the lottery corporation's offices in Toronto, two sources told the CBC, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Repeated calls to officials at the lottery corporation went unanswered Friday.

The dismissal follows allegations that several lottery clerks stole winning tickets from unsuspecting customers and cashed in millions of dollars in prizes themselves.

The allegations came to light in the fall, when CBC's The Fifth Estate told the story of Bob Edmonds, an 82-year-old Ontario man who sued the lottery corporation in 2005. Edmonds, from the town of Coboconk, alleges he won $250,000, but his prize was fraudulently claimed at his local corner store.

The lottery corporation settled with Edmonds, paying him $100,000. He signed a confidentiality agreement as part of the deal.

At the time The Fifth Estate program aired, Brown said he didn't necessarily accept the claimsthe program was making.

On March 14, a second investigation by The Fifth Estate revealed the lottery corporation has beendealing withinsider fraud cases for at least four years.

The Fifth Estate obtained a leaked document that showed in 2003 alone, the lottery corporation was investigating six lottery claims made by clerks that seemed suspicious. One of the cases involved Edmonds.