The lawsuit document filed by José Rivera against the California Lottery alleges that he is the true winner of the $2 billion Powerball and that his ticket was stolen, for which reason the money must be paid to the winner recognized by the entity , identified as Edwin Castro.
In the legal action for damages before the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, it is indicated that Rivera was the one who bought the ticket that contained the six winning Powerball numbers at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena on November 7. .
That same day, an individual, only identified as “Reggie,” allegedly stole the Hispanic’s ticket.
“After Defendant ‘Reggie’ stole Plaintiff’s ticket, Plaintiff José Rivera repeatedly requested that the ticket be returned to him, but Defendant refused to return Plaintiff’s ticket,” states the complaint filed by attorneys Estela Richeda and Brian Kramer.
The next day, the draw in which the numbers were the winners of the largest prize in the history of the United States lottery was reported. Rivera repeatedly asked Reggie to return the ticket, but Reggie responded with excuses such as that the ticket was not a winner and that if he found the ticket, they would split the prize 50/50.
Faced with Reggie’s alleged blackmail, Rivera decided to alert the California Lottery and the Police to the situation.
The lawsuit does not specify who Reggie is and how he made contact with Rivera. It is also unclear how Castro entered the picture or if he had any links to the other two men. Both subjects appear as defendants in the appeal.
The California Lottery insists that the rightful winner is Castro, who was only identified at a press conference on February 14 as a former student of the state’s public education system. Castro refused to participate in a lottery press conference in which details of the draw would be given, this despite the fact that in California the information of the winners is considered public information.
“The California Lottery remains confident that Edwin Castro is the rightful winner of the $2 billion derived from the November 2022 Powerball drawing,” spokeswoman Carolyn Becker said last week.
Becker added in statements to various media that the entity is not authorized to investigate possible criminal activity among its players.
The lawsuit asks that office to hold the disbursement of money to Castro until the legal controversy is resolved.
“Mr. Rivera insists that the California Lottery must hold off on making any payment to Edwin Castro or any other individual until the facts and circumstances of the purchase, theft, and presentation of the winning ticket are fully upheld by the California Lottery and the law and order authorities…”, states the document contained in an NBC 4 report.
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