Man jailed for using Covid disaster relief loan to buy rare Pokémon card worth $60,000

A GEORGIA man has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison after buying a rare Pokémon card.

Vinath Oudomsine, 31, was also fined $10,000, ordered to pay $85,000 in restitution and, of course, forfeited the Pokémon card he purchased with the illegally obtained Covid-19 relief funds.

Oudomsine spent over $50,000 on a Pokémon card featuring the character Charizardthe_pokemontrader/eBay

Oudomsine was given a Covid relief loan after claiming he ran a small business that employed 10 people.

He was awarded an $85,000, which was supposed to help him keep his imaginary business going during the pandemic.

The man spent $57,789 on a first edition Charizard card.

It was shadowless, holographic and came with “9.5 gem mint rating”.

One of the prosecuting attorneys, David Estes, was quoted in a press report saying “Like moths to the flame, fraudsters like Oudomsine took advantage of these programs to line their own pockets – and with our law enforcement partners, we are holding him and others accountable for their greed.”

Dating up to 2018, the average wire fraud sentence fell between 20 and 24 months.

Philip Wislar, Acting Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said Oudomsine’s three-year sentence “highlights the FBI’s commitment to aggressively pursue anyone who would abuse taxpayer dollars and divert them from citizens who desperately need them.”

Reporting by POGO found that over 200 individuals have been charged with misappropriating Paycheck Protection Program loans since issuing began in April 2020. 

A Maryland pastor was caught for wrongfully using his PPP loan to buy a Tesla.

A star on the show Love & Hip Hop was arrested for a similar scam involving a Rolls Royce.

POGO’s report estimates that schemers came away with roughly $246million of the $755billion doled by order of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The most expensive Pokémon card ever sold was a Pikachu Illustrator card that went for $900,000 in 2022Pokemon

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