AUSTIN (November 3, 2009)--An attorney for a Texas man who lost out on a $1 million jackpot after a clerk evidently stole his winning ticket says the Texas Lottery Commission still considers the store clerk who allegedly stole the ticket to be the winner.

Willis Willis lost out on the jackpot when the clerk evidently cashed in his winning lottery ticket and disappeared.

Willis' lawyer, Sean E. Brown, says commission attorneys told the Willis, who’s 67 and unemployed, that the clerk is considered the winner because he signed the back of the lottery ticket.

Commission spokesman Bobby Heith declined comment to the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.

The Associated Press left a message Monday night.

Authorities are still trying to find the former clerk, who is charged with claiming a lottery prize by fraud.

Authorities believe Pankaj Joshi, who’s now indicted on a charge of claiming a lottery prize by fraud, fled to Nepal after about $750,000 was transferred to him.

About half of the money has been recovered from U.S. banks.

Prosecutor Patricia Robertson said money is being held.

Some of it will eventually be returned to Willis, she said.