Man Who Obtained $57,000 USD Pokémon Card Using COVID Relief Funds Sentenced to Prison
Federal prosecutors have sentenced a Georgia man to prison for three years for illegally obtaining a COVID relief loan to purchase a collectible Pokémon card for over $57,000 USD.
According to the Department of Justice, Vinath Oudomsine pled guilty to "one account of Wire Fraud." Oudomsine has agreed to fofeit the Pokémon trading card of the popular character Charizard. Oudomsine initially applied for the loan in 2020 and claimed that he would use it to run a small business that employed ten other people. His application was successful and he garnered $85,000 USD from the government. However, he has instead spent a bulk of his relief fund on a single, rare Pokémon card that cost $57,789 USD. The card in question is a 1999 Pokémon Base Set First Edition Shadowless Holo Charizard with a 9.5 Gem Mint condition.
The DOJ confirmed that he will not be eligible for parole and that after his three-year sentence, he will be subject to "supervised release" when he is out. He is expected to pay back the $85,000 USD in loan as well as an additional fine of $10,000 USD.
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