$2.04 Billion Powerball Winner Sued, Man Claims Ticket Was Stolen

$2.04 Billion Powerball Winner Sued, Man Claims Ticket Was Stolen

It looks like there is some controversy surrounding a recent Powerball winner.

One man claims that the winning ticket for the largest lottery jackpot in history was stolen from him and now he’s filing a lawsuit.

According to legal documents, Jose Rivera claims he bought his lottery ticket from Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, CA on November 7, just one day prior to the big $2.04 Billion drawing. Rivera says a man named “Reggie” stole the ticket from him that same day and refused to give it back. Instead, he said he would split half of the earnings. After the numbers were drawn, Rivera says he tried to get Reggie to return the ticket, which allegedly held the winning numbers, but was unsuccessful.  Jose Rivera says he “refused to be blackmailed” and reported the theft to the California Lottery and law enforcement.

Earlier this month, Edwin Castro was named the winner of the record-setting lottery and accepted the lump sum prize of $997.6 million. Rivera has submitted a claim form to the California Lottery, claiming the ticket had been stolen and asked for an investigation before the payment was made.

Rivera lists both Reggie and Castro as two separate defendants in the lawsuit and is asking the court for damages, and to be declared the winner of the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.