The legal battle for Powerball winner Edwin Castro continues, and now, the new lawyer for his rival is making demands of the California Lottery!
A new lawyer
Jose Rivera is suing Castro, claiming Rivera bought the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot-winning ticket in November 2022, and Castro stole it from him. Rivera is also facing other legal battles, as he has pleaded not guilty after he was charged with filing a false police complaint in Pasadena.
Rivera has now hired a new attorney, John Michael Flanagan, to handle his criminal case while the civil case against Castro has been continued in Alhambra until late July.
On July 8, Flanagan appeared in court and asked for a pre-trial conference to be moved to August 13, which was granted by the judge. He said he was new to the case and needed to gather evidence showing Castro reportedly buying his ticket and proof of the purchase, as well as timed footage of Rivera at the same gas station.
The winning ticket was purchased at Joe's Service Center in Altadena. Flanagan says he has photographs of Castro at the store, but he needs video to see when it actually took place. Based on The US Sun's reporting, he added:
I need to know the precise time. And if the state lottery has video of Castro on that day, it should have the video for the entire day. That's what I need to see.
California Lottery being 'uncooperative'
Flanagan stated he understood the California Lottery was being fairly “uncooperative” during this process. He said if the criminal case goes to trial, he will subpoena them for evidence.
Flanagan said he will be looking over everything fully and trying to figure out who could be called as a witness for Rivera. The US Sun reported that Rivera and his previous lawyers were shown the footage in private before they dropped out.
The owner of Joe's Service Center said he's never seen the footage, and it has been turned over to the California Lottery.
Who bought the winning ticket?
As far as the civil case goes, Rivera claims he bought the winning ticket and specifically chose the winning numbers. Castro also claims to have purchased the winning ticket and it seems like the California Lottery is on his side.
In a statement to The US Sun, Carolyn Becker, the Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Communications at the California Lottery, said:
I will reiterate our earlier statement that 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.
A stolen ticket?
Rivera doesn't think the timing correlates with when the winning ticket was purchased for Castro, whose former lawyer, David De Paoli, has said that Castro purchased the winning ticket without question. He has seen the video footage and said it is “crystal clear.”
Meanwhile, Rivera claims his former landlord, Urachi “Reggie” Romero, stole his ticket, and it allegedly ended up in the hands of Castro. Romero denies stealing the ticket, but he does believe Rivera chose the winning numbers having seen it after the purchase, The US Sun reported.
Castro and his team insist he has no links to either of the men, and they are confident the civil case will be dismissed.
Enjoy playing the California Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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