Edwin Castro will keep $2.04 billion winnings as Calif. judge tosses Powerball lawsuit
Powerball winner Edwin Castro will hang onto his 🌊record-breaking $2.04 billion winnings after a Californi෴a judge tossed a lawsuit by someone claiming the ticket was stolen from him.
A Los Angeles Coun🃏ty judge tentatively dismissed the lawsuit by Jose Rivera last month, but it became official Tuesday after Rivera failed to fight the ruling, , citing court𒈔 documents.
It means Castro no lꦜonger has to fight to prove he is the rightful owner of the jackpot, th🌊e biggest in US history, nearly two years after he won.
While Rivera has claimed the ticket was stolen from him, the judge ruled that “players are solely responsible for securing their Tickets against theft, loss, damage, or destruction.”
“The person in possession of a … winning lottery ticket … is the presumptive owner/winner,” the judge wrote, according to TMZ.
Castr൲o, 31, nabbed the life-changing jackpot in November 2022, and opted for the lump sum payo🅰ut of $997.7 million.
Aftꦐer taxes, he took home a♏bout $628 million, according to the California Lottery.
Castro was sued by Rivera in 2023.
In court papers obtained by The Post at the time, Rivera claimed that he bought the winning ticket on Nov. 7, 2022 – j🍎ust one day bef♛ore the drawing.
But a man identified as Urachi “Reggie” Rome💯ro al🦩legedly stole the ticket and “refused” to return it, the complaint said.
Reggie supposꦉedly told Rivera that thꦯe “ticket was a loser.”
It wꦯas unclear how the ticket ca🅘me into Castro’s possession.
After his windfall, Castro quickly shelled out $47 million for a Hollywood Hills mansion, and also dropped $4 million on a house for his parents in Altadena.
In July, he went public with his model girlfriend, Payte💞n Vincent🎶, 24, in a series of loved-up social media posts.
The pair were first spotted toge🌱ther at Nobu🌃 in Los Angeles in earlier that month.
A self-described poet with 125,000 Instagram followers, Vincent worked as a barista at Staℱrbucks in Falmouth, Maine, and as a TD Bank tel🦩ler before moving to LA, according to her LinkedIn.
