L.A. Powerball Pretender’s Bizarre Billion-Dollar Claim Collapses in Court

• Woman falsely claimed $1.08 billion lottery prize, lawsuit dismissed
  
• Judge rules no contract existed, calls claims “threadbare”
  
• Real winner confirmed months later, ending bizarre public spectacle

A Los Angeles woman who claimed to be the rightful winner of a $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot has seen her case dismissed by a judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Stacy Tru sued the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) and the California Lottery for the full prize, plus retroactive interest, in January 2025, claiming breach of contract. The suit asserted she was “at all times … the only owner of the [winning] ticket.”

The ticket for what was then the sixth-largest in US lottery history (now the 13th) was sold at the Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown Los Angeles. The store is a stone’s throw from the city’s Skid Row neighborhood, notorious for homeless encampments, drugs, and crime.

“In the shadow of poverty and despair of Skid Row – someone has just won $1 billion,” beamed The LA Times.

Overcome With Emotion

On July 20, 2023, the day after the draw, Tru turned up at the Las Palmitas Mini Market, dancing in front of news crews – at times too ecstatic to speak. She managed to nod when asked if she was the winner.

Outside, she collapsed to the floor and waved her hands in the air before driving off in a BMW, according to news reports at the time.

But everything Tru said turned out to be false, according to Judge Upinder S. Kalra who dismissed her case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be revived.

The prize was paid out several months after Tru danced for the cameras to a woman named Yanira Alvarez, who is the only valid ticket holder that MUSL and the California Lottery recognizes, according to the lottery operators’ lawyers.

Alvarez was publicly named as the winner in late March 2024 and chose the lump-sum cash option of $558.1 million before taxes instead of the annuity tied to the full advertised jackpot.

15 Seconds of Fame

Tru later launched a website in which she painted herself as a “billionaire philanthropist” who was available for “motivational speaking.” She also attempted to sell replicas of the hat she wore when she showed up at the store.

Tru’s antics at the minimart were flagged as suspicious by the granddaughter of the store’s owner, who told The Daily Mail at the time: “She didn’t win – I’m not sure why she did that. I guess she just wanted to be on TV.”