Lottery body awards $2bn prize despite man claiming winning ticket was stolen
A lottery body has stood by the decision to award $2.04bn prize money despite another man claiming he bought the winning ticket but it was stolen.
Jose Rivera filed a lawsuit against the declared winner, Edwin Castro, the California Lottery and another man named "Reggie", who he believes stole the winning ticket worth $2.04 billion (£1.7 billion).
Mr Rivera claimed he bought the ticket from an auto repair shop called Joe's Service Center in Altadena, California, and Reggie stole it from him on the same day.
He then said that he contacted Reggie to try and get the ticket back, but without success.
California Lottery Director Alva Johnson announcing that Edwin Castro won November's record-high $2.04 billion PowerBall jackpot (AP)The plaintiff said that Reggie refused to return the ticket and blackmailed Mr Rivera by offering to split the winnings, according to court documents seen by TMZ.
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Despite this California Lottery are standing by their decision to award the winnings to Mr Castro.
Responding to Mr Rivera's lawsuit, a spokesperson said: “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.”
California Lottery was legally obliged to disclose the name of the winner, under California law, and on February 14, it named the winner as Edwin Castro.
But further information surrounding his identity remained a mystery.
Mr Castro didn't appear at a press conference the company organised for the grand prize, and hasn't spoken to the press yet.
Lottery officials stated that he declined the invitation to attend the event and that he would like to remain largely private, True Scoop News reported.
Joe Chahayed, owner of Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, where the winning ticket was bought (Damian Dovarganes/AP/REX/Shutterstock)In a prepared statement that was read out at the event, Mr Castro said he was "shocked and ecstatic" to have won the drawing and praised the lottery company for providing part of its revenue to the state's public schools.
Carolyn Becker, deputy director of communications for the Lottery, told the Pasadena Star-News: “We take this (vetting) process very seriously and sometimes it can take weeks or even months.
“That process is incredibly important to the California Lottery, because it ensures the integrity of a winner.”
She also said people are known to submit false claims.
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Ms Becker continued: “Sadly, we do get bad actors who try to claim winnings that are not theirs.."
The California Lottery have also said they do not launch independent investigations into any potential thefts.
Mr Rivera reported the alleged theft to the Pasadena Police Department on February 15 but, as he had no evidence of buying the ticket, no theft report was written up, City of Pasadena Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian said.
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