A Man Sentenced To Prison For Using Covid Relief Loan To Buy Pokémon Card
Anime fans always do some crazy stuff just because of their devotion towards a particular series. But, sometimes this madness lands them into very serious trouble and the same thing happened with a U.S. man who was sentenced to prison for buying a Pokémon card using COVID-19 relief funds.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that a Georgia man, named Vinath Oudomsine, who fraudulently applied for a COVID-19 disaster relief loan has been sentenced to 36 months in a federal prison. The man was found guilty of using US$57,789 of the US$85,000 he received from a disaster loan management agency to purchase a Pokémon trading card.
According to the documents and testimony submitted in the court, Vinath Oudomsine applied for the loan around July 2020, claiming that he is in urgent need of money to run his entertainment services business in Dublin. But, in reality, there was no such business as he used that money to buy a first-edition Pokémon card of “Charizard” worth US$57,789.
A special FBI agent commented on this case by saying, “COVID-19 disaster relief loans are issued by the government to help businesses struggling to survive during a pandemic, not to use for trivial collectible items”. The fraudster was also charged with a fine of US$10,000 and has been ordered to pay restitution of the loan’s full amount.
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Source: Anime News Network
