A man in Geogia has been sentenced to three years in prison after he bought a Pokemon Card from the COVID-19 relief money that he was awarded in loan after claiming to own a small business that supported 10 employees. The loan he had gotten was a part of the US Congress? pandemic relief plan that was intended to be used to businesses to pay their workers and other bills. The Department of Justice has announced Vinath Oudosmine?s sentence upon using the money to buy a Charizard Pokemon card.
Oudosmine was awarded an $85,000 (roughly Rs 65,40,000) Economic Injury Disaster Loan that was intended to support his business. However, the Department of Justice said that he used $57,789 (roughly Rs 44,47,00) from that to buy a first-edition, shadowless and holographic Charizard card with a 9.5 mint rating. The judge has instructed Oudomsine to pay $10,000 on top of $85,000 in restitution and three years in prison. Oudomsine has also agreed to return the Charizard card over to prosecutors as part of the prosecution, the news release has said.
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?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,” said Philip Wislar, Acting Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. Pokemon Cards have emerged as a serious collectible item over the past couple of years. People have made millions trading rare mint condition Pokemon cards and several celebrities and YouTubers have also invested heavily in Pokemon Cards.
Pokemon cards have become so popular that e-commerce platform Ebay has an authentication system that people can use to see if their Pokemon cards are real or not. Currently, Ebay?s Authenticity Guarantee is free of charge on select cards, but is said to become paid soon.
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