Source: John Keeble / Getty
Welp, we didn’t have this on our 2021 Bingo card.
Stories of people using COVID-19 relief funds for everything under the sun have been going viral for months, but one man is facing wire fraud charges for a Pokémon purchase. Pokémon has had folks of all ages hooked for generations, but we can’t say we expected anyone to risk going to prison over the Japanese anime franchise.
“Federal prosecutors say a Georgia man [Vinath Oudomsine] used a pandemic relief loan to buy a $57,000 Pokemon card,” The Associated Press reports. “Court records show a Dublin man is charged with lying on an application for a pandemic economic relief loan about the number of people his business employed and the company’s gross revenue. He faces one count of wire fraud.”
According to the court filing, detailed by AP, the man received $85,000 in government money and months later, used exactly $57,789 to purchase the card… allegedly.
Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines, The Telegraph notes, adding “Oudomsine, who is from Dublin, Georgia, could not be reached for comment on Friday. Defense attorneys representing him declined to comment in a statement to McClatchy News.”
We wish him the best of luck in his case.
