Individual launches allegations after lottery winner steps forward to claim world's largest jackpot
By Kate Northrop
An individual has claimed in legal filings that he was the one to purchase the winning lottery ticket for the world-record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot and that the ticket was stolen from him.
Another Altadena man named Jose Rivera has launched allegations that Edwin Castro is not the true winner of the $2.04 billion Powerball lottery jackpot just over a week after Castro was announced by the California Lottery as the winner.
On Valentine's Day, the California Lottery held a press conference where they announced Edwin Castro as the sole winner of the jackpot. Castro was not physically present at the event, but he submitted a brief statement, which was read aloud by Lottery officials on his behalf.
Castro opted to take the lump sum option of the jackpot, which comes out to $997.6 million, the Lottery said.
The winning ticket was sold at Joe's Service Center on Woodbury Road in Altadena, which received a $1 million commission for selling it. The ticket matched all five white ball numbers — 10, 33, 41, 47, and 56, plus the Powerball number 10 — to win the jackpot in November.
Rivera claims that it was he who bought the winning ticket at Joe's Service Center on Nov. 7, the day before the life-changing drawing.
According to documents, Rivera asserts that another man identified as "Reggie" stole the ticket from him.
Rivera said that after the winning numbers were drawn, he repeatedly asked Reggie to give the ticket back, but he refused. Reggie then allegedly threatened to destroy the ticket if Rivera did not agree to split the winnings.
The paperwork says that Rivera reported the "blackmail" incident to the California Lottery and local authorities.
"The California Lottery is not authorized to investigate criminal activity among its players; such allegations are subject to investigation only by local law enforcement," the Lottery said in a statement. "Should a local law enforcement agency investigate such allegations, Lottery's only role is to assist in the matter by answering questions and/or providing evidence as allowed under the law."
Rivera's lawsuit names the California Lottery, Castro, and Reggie as defendants and asks the court for damages and to name him the rightful winner of the $2 billion jackpot.
"Further, when it comes to the vetting process for big winners, California Lottery has the utmost confidence in its process for doing so. California Lottery remains confident that Edwin Castro is the rightful winner of the $2.04 billion prize stemming from the Powerball drawing in November of 2022."
During the claims verification process, the Lottery affirms that it views store surveillance footage to ensure they are paying out the correct winner.
An anonymous employee at Joe's Service Center said that Rivera was "crazy" for making such an accusation and explained that the Lottery goes through security video footage "frame by frame" and "to the second" to verify the winner's identity.
"[The] California Lottery [has] strict regulations about how they choose a winner," the nameless worker told the Daily Mail. "This guy is crazy. He came in here with his attorney yelling about it and there's nothing we can do."
Thanks to Pick3master3838 for the tip.
When you act dishonestly you are initiating problems, and a domino structure of complications, which will eventually run out of control.
A phrase from a poem by Sir Walter Scott written in 1808 comes to mind:
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”.
Certainly there is video of the rightful winner purchasing the winning ticket---hopefully Mr. Castro.
Like we always say here it is a Bearer Instrument and hope Mr. Castro signed it.
It was nice of the California Lottery to not 'out' the purchaser like they did that lady a few years ago when they reviewed and posted/plastered her picture.
I play in a lottery pool and am the administrator, we have strict guidance
I buy the tickets and immediately send a copy
I play my own at a separate store
so Jose bought, Reggie snatched and Edward turned it in
Large prize winning lottery tickets are not bearer instruments in California. In other states it may be different, but here the lottery absolutely will not pay out anything without verifying that the person making the claim was actually the person who bought the ticket. And if it's one of those cases where the winner sent someone to the store to buy some tickets, the lottery will interview the purchaser. That's why one of the requirements to be a lotto retailer here is having a good security camera system. With small prizes, tickets are bearer instruments because it's not cost effective to investigate every single claim.
If the CA Lottery is putting out a statement saying they are confident Castro is the rightful winner, it means they have clear video footage of him buying the ticket at the exact time.
(And some may remember a case many years ago when the CA lottery paid out a large prize in the absence of a physical ticket because they identified the person buying the ticket via security cam footage.)
* Major reaching! The winning numbers have been posted for " Months" both here on LP & elsewhere. Where was this person's claim during all that time about someone stealing his ticket? Now that a winner has claimed the ticket- a shadow emerges? I am not buying it.
I'd agree with you that the timing is suspicious if the article had said when the police report was filed. But it doesn't say whether Rivera only recently went to the police or if he made the complaint months ago. Only the lawsuit was filed recently.
I'm with CEJ that when it comes to the big prizes, a lotto ticket ain't gonna be treated as a bearer instrument, no way no how. It's bad publicity for the lottery to be paying out millions to someone invoking "finders keepers." Leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The lottery can pay or refuse to pay at its discretion.
The place that had that winning ticket is owned by a cincinnati bengals player. don't let it fool ya.
I understand your comical comment and stuff, but lets be serious for a moment. This whole thing sounds suspicious.
This is the side of why winners name shouldn't be announced but if it's not announced people won't trust the lottery
I bet there will be lawsuits filed out in this case.
Nothing suspicious about saying "Rivera was crazy," , "An anonymous employee at Joe's Service Center said that Rivera was "crazy" for making such an accusation and explained that the Lottery goes through security video footage "frame by frame" and "to the second" to verify the winner's identity."
And not the first time someone made a claim like Rivera's. A few years ago a woman in Ohio claimed she lost the winning ticket in convenience store parking lot, filled a police report and a lawsuit to block payment of a $162 million MM jackpot.
According to the article, "During the claims verification process, the Lottery affirms that it views store surveillance footage to ensure they are paying out the correct winner."
Based on that the California Lottery were positive Castro purchased the winning ticket before releasing his name. What sounds suspicious?
* l hear you but l am not buying it in its totality, because this Phantom menace said " he repeatedly asked Reggie to give the ticket back, but he refused." Listen up Pal, anyone with half a brain is not going to put up with " asked & refused." Its straight to the Cops after the VERY first plea for the ticket. We not talking a few hundred dollars here, we talking $2 billion dollars. If like you said, the guy reported the theft within 24 hours, l will lean into it, but right now as it stand's - He has 3 legs missing on that chair he is sitting on.
So if Jose Rivera bought the ticket and Reggie stole the ticket from Rivera, then how did Edwin Castro end up with it?
Maybe Rivera and Castro are in cahoots.
Meant to say Reggie and Castro are in cahoots.
I used to live in Cali. Supposed to snow tonight in Hollywood?
Light snow on the Hollywood sign
The lottery knows to the second when and where the winning ticket was sold. They could review security camera footage to determine who was in the store at that time.
Timothy Schultz recently interviewed retired Iowa lottery director Terry Rich. He stated that the lottery has agreements with the stores so they can review camera footage and see exactly who bought the ticket. In fact, he said security camera footage was used in the Eddie Tipton case.
Timothy Schultz is a lottery winner himself who won when he was 21 years old and used the money for education in journalism and to start his own media company. He had done interviews other lottery winners that were pretty interesting.
Worth checking out.
I ran a lottery pool at a previous job and that is how I did it. I bought the tickets separately and gave copies to all the members. I bought my personal tickets at different times at other stores.
Even so, one member did actually once say I could have won and not told anyone who which I responded I'd be a fool to try that because everyone had the tickets so they could check them to see if there were any winners.
If the lottery wants to know who bought the ticket, they can tell to the second when it was old and check security footage.
I had a cashier steal $500.00 from me once, the lottery has access to the store's video surveillance thru an Ethernet link.
Hmm...maybe PB and MM should be banned In California lol
If Rivera knew Castro had stolen the ticket, why didn't he ask for the ticket back before the drawings. It makes no sense. How did he know he had won, if the numbers hadn't been drawn yet (unless he wrote down what his ticket numbers were) very doubtful. Riveras is claiming winnings before the numbers can out. Who steals a (maybe no good ticket). Rivera is lying 😂. He may get counter sued, by the State and Castro. Give it up man, your story has more holes in it than a fish net😂😂😂
I bet not allowing PowerPlay and Megaplier would be one of the reasons why if that was debated for congress.
Rivera said that after the winning numbers were drawn, he repeatedly asked Reggie to give the ticket back, but he refused. Reggie then allegedly threatened to destroy the ticket if Rivera did not agree to split the winnings.
If Reggie had the winning ticket when the winning numbers were drawn why would he destroy it? If Reggie destroys it, he gets nothing.
My take. Rivera bought the ticket and told Reggie, then asked did you get one? Reggie said, "No. What numbers did you play?" Rivera handed him the ticket to look. Reggie said, "I like those numbers" and put the ticket in his pocket and wouldn't give it back.
After the drawing when Reggie knew he had the winning ticket, he needed someone to cash the ticket for him because he had reasons not to claim it himself. He told Rivera, "If you cash it for me, I'll split it with you." Rivera refused to split it saying, "I bought the ticket it belongs to me". Rivera also knows Reggie can't cash it himself.
Rivera has no idea who is going to cash it for Reggie. So the waiting game begins. In the mean time Reggie asks Castro to cash the ticket for him with the agreement to split it, Castro agrees. Rivera sees the press announcement saying Castro won and now knows who cashed it, so he then files his lawsuit.
Most likely scenario IMO is Rivera is a crackpot, "Reggie" does not exist, and Castro is an innocent target. I will eat my hat if I'm wrong.
You should pitch that script to Hollywood and make some movie!
In all honesty, I thought of basically the same situation. I do not consider your fact pattern far fetched. It is plausible.
It's plausible, but improbable unless Castro is Rivera's doppelgänger and was able to fool the CA Lottery throughout a weeks long vetting process. There's also the question of why "Reggie" stole a ticket before the drawing. This claim is in the complaint, which I managed to find on document cloud.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23689405-powerball-lottery-lawsuit
The vast majority of tickets end up worth $0, so why steal one before the drawing?
This describes some of the vetting process https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-news/california-lottery-powerball-megamillions-jackpot-winners-claim-reviews-taxes/3095892/
Some of the video in stores may be poor quality. It would not be that unusual to want to hold or steal a ticket before a drawing hoping to win a little money. I am a skeptical attorney always. Lol
AMEN, Raven
"Everything is connected"
~Buddah Wisdom and Quantum physics