A man who claims he had his $2billion winning Powerball ticket stolen has hired an elite 'lottery lawyer' in his fight for justice.
Jose Rivera filed a lawsuit against the declared winner, Edwin Castro, the California Lottery and another man named "Reggie", claiming Mr Castro stole the winning ticket worth $2.04 billion (£1.7 billion). Mr Castro claimed the jackpot in one lump sum before going on a spending spree..
However Mr Rivera has filed a suit in Alhambra Superior Court claiming he purchased the ticket at Joe's Service Center in Altadena, California. Now the claimant has taken the next step in his fight having hired specialist lotto lawyer, Kurt Panouses.
Florida-based Panouses has worked with countless jackpot winners over the last 20 years and has joined Rivera's legal counsel ahead of the next hearing on September 29. Panouses and his co-counsel say they are firmly behind Rivera and believe he - not Castro- bought the winning ticket last November.
Lotto specialist Kurt Panouses is now involved in the case against Edwin Castro's claims that he owns the ticket that pocketed a whopping $2billion Powerball (ABC)Rivera alleges the ticket, with numbers 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, and Powerball 10 , was then stolen by a man called Reggie, who has since been identified as Urachi F. Romero and is listed as a co-defendant in court documents. Mr Rivera claimed he demanded the ticket back from Mr Romero but was told it was lost. Rivera's legal team are now seeking to source and have released CCTV images to support their case, reports The U.S. Sun.
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Since his eye-watering jackpot win, the biggest lottery prize in US history, Castro, 30, has used his winnings to invest in real estate, buying two multimillion dollar homes in California in March. One was a $25.5 million estate in Hollywood Hills, while the other was a slightly more modest $4 million mansion with views of the San Gabriel Mountains.
His Hollywood Hills home consists of five bedrooms and seven bathrooms - totalling 13,500 square feet of living space. It has a game room, wine cellar, movie theatre, bar, infinity pool, spa, and fitness studio complete with both hot and cold plunge pools.
His Hollywood Hills home consists of five bedrooms and seven bathrooms - totalling 13,500 square feet of living space (Alamy Stock Photo)His other, slightly less expensive home, is just a short distance from the gas station where he bought the winning Powerball ticket in his hometown of Altadena. The 1953 home is Japanese style, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms. This home has its own luxury features, including a saltwater swimming pool, cinema, outdoor pond and a garage-carport combo which can fit more than a dozen vehicles.
Despite ongoing legal battles against him, the California Lottery Commission has stood by naming Castro as the sole winner. A spokesperson for Castro previously said: "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.”
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