By The newspaper
05 Apr 2024, 11:42 AM EDT
Both Edwin Castro and Yanira Álvarez are California Powerball jackpot winners of Hispanic origin. These are two of the main similarities between billionaires.
Additionally, the prizes for each one exceed $1,000 million dollars.
In Castro’s case, he won $2 billion, the largest prize in the history of lottery games.
Álvarez, for his part, hit the six figures to take home $1,080 million.
The drawing in which Castro won was held on November 22, 2022, and the announcement that he claimed the prize was made on February 14 of last year.
The winner of the other “jackpot” matched the numbers in the drawing on July 19, 2023, and was announced by the California Lottery on March 29.
Castro purchased the ticket at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, while Alvarez purchased the ticket at “Las Palmitas Mini Market” in the Skid Row neighborhood located in downtown Los Angeles.
Regarding the selection of the winning numbers, there is also another similarity.
On both tickets, the number 10 is part of the series.
In the case of the ticket claimed by Castro, the numbers selected were: 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, and the Powerball, 10.
The winning series on Álvarez’s ticket was the following: 7, 10, 11, 13, 24, and the Powerball, 24.
Beyond these similarities, there is a big difference between the stories of both Hispanics.
The prize Castro claimed is being disputed in court over allegations of fraud.
The case has been litigated in the Alhambra Court since José Rivera filed the legal appeal against Castro on February 22 for the alleged theft of the ticket.
In the text of the lawsuit, Rivera alleges that he purchased the ticket containing the six winning Powerball numbers at Joe’s Service Center on November 7.
“After the defendant, ‘Reggie’ (Urachi F. Romero), stole the plaintiff’s ticket; José Rivera, the plaintiff, requested on several occasions that the ticket be returned to him, but the defendant refused to return the ticket to the plaintiff,” the document specifies.
Romero the owner of the home in the Rivera residence or the landlord.
When the drawing was reported the next day, Rivera supposedly insisted that the other party return the ticket, but the latter responded with excuses such as that the ticket was not a winner, and that, if he found it, they would split the prize half and half.
Given Romero’s alleged blackmail, Rivera decided to alert the California Lottery and the Police about the situation.
The lawsuit, however, fails to establish how the winning ticket passed from Romero’s hands to Castro’s. The link between the two, nor between Castro and Rivera, is not specified either.
The next hearing is scheduled for July 25.
The process has been delayed for several reasons, including that the plaintiff allegedly wrongly named Castro in legal documents. Another situation was the resignation of one of the lawyers who represented Rivera.
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