Footage shows Edwin Castro 'clear' winner of Powerball ticket: lawyer
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The lawyer representing Powerball winner Edwin Castro has reportedly viewed footage of his client buying the $2.04 billion winning ticket as the legal battle over who the rightful winner is drags on.
Castro won the life-altering sum of money after buying the ticket last November.
But months later, Jose Rivera came forward to insist in a lawsuit that he actually purchased the prize ticket from a California store before it was stolen from him by his landlord, Urachi “Reggie” Romero, and somehow ended up in Castro’s hands.
The California State Lottery Commission has an apparent video of the ticket being purchased at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California, but has not publicly released it.
But Castro’s lawyer David De Paoli said he viewed the long-sought clip that reportedly shows his 31-year-old client buying the ticket in a statement to the US Sun Monday.
“I have personally viewed the CCTV footage and it is crystal clear,” the attorney said. “Edwin Castro purchased the winning Powerball ticket without question.”
De Paoli did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Post.
His statement comes after Rivera was charged with filing a false police report with Pasadena police over the case, the US Sun reported earlier this month.
Authorities believed Rivera was wasting their time on a frivolous claim about the ticket leading up to the charge, the outlet reported.
He is set to be arraigned on Dec. 1.
Rivera’s lawyers previously denied wrongdoing before the charge was filed.
The state lottery commission has said Castro is the rightful winner as the civil case is ongoing.
“When it comes to the vetting process for big winners, California Lottery has the utmost confidence in its process for doing so,” spokesperson Carolyn Becker has previously said in a statement.
“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.”
The agency announced Castro won the prize money in February and decided to take a lump-sum payment of $997.6 million.
Rivera filed a lawsuit against Castro, the lottery commission, and Romero following the announcement.
The case has been continued to next February, the US Sun reported.
Romero, the landlord, has backed up Rivera’s claim that his tenant bought the ticket but denied that he stole it.
Romero said he wasn’t sure how it ended up with Castro, whose legal team has said their client has no connection to the two men.
Castro — who was spotted at Los Angeles International Airport in September with a mystery woman — has bought three massive mansions in California worth a combined tens of millions of dollars since collecting his winnings.
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