Castle auction

Denver, March 20 (AP): A historic castle where John D. Rockefeller and Theodore Roosevelt were guests — and where a coal baron’s ghost is said to haunt the halls — was auctioned for $4 million, two years after the IRS seized the century-old mansion in a fraud investigation.

A Pasadena, California, man made the winning bid, said John Harrison, an IRS special agent. The unidentified buyer declined to talk with reporters.

?I had a brief moment to meet him, and I think he?s going to be a real asset to the redstone community,? said Walter Stanaszek, a university of Oklahoma professor who had the winning bid for a nearby Victorian home. ?I?m just excited to say I have a neighbour that owns a castle.?

IRS agents seized the 42-room redstone castle in the mountains near Aspen in March 2003 while investigating an international investment scheme.

Rich on run

Berlin (Reuters): Germany?s biggest individual lottery winner had no time to celebrate after becoming 20.4 million euros ($27 million) richer, because he was too worried about being late for work. When the salesman, who was not identified by WestLotto, arrived Thursday to buy his weekly lottery ticket at a shop in the industrial Ruhr area he was told last week?s 12-euro ticket that he hadn?t bothered to check had won the jackpot. The man?s reaction left the lottery operator dumbfounded. ?After he was told he had won the jackpot, he said he didn?t have time to chat because he would get into trouble with his boss,? a lottery spokesperson in the western city of Muenster said. Instead, he rushed off to catch a bus to work.