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Georgia man sentenced to prison for using COVID relief funds to buy Pokémon cards

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A Georgia man was sentenced to three years in federal prison after admitting he lied to obtain $85,000 in COVID relief and used more than $57,000 of the money to buy a collectible Pokémon trading card.

 

Vinath Oudomsine (31) of Dublin in Laurens County entered false information when applying for financial assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) in the summer of 2020.

 

The Pokémon fan falsely stated in an application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) that his entertainment service business in Dublin employed ten people and had gross revenues of $235,000 in the 12 months before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

On August 4, 2020, the SBA, duped by the fraudulent representations on his application, deposited $85,000 into the fraudster’s bank account. Oudomsine later spent $57,789 of his EIDL on a rare trading card of Charizard, a fire-flying-dragon-type Pokémon created by Atsuko Nishida.

 

In October, he pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud. Judge Dudley Bowner of the United States District Court fined Oudomsine $10,000 and sentenced him to 36 months in federal prison without the possibility of parole, followed by three years of supervised release. Oudomsine agreed to forfeit the pricey trading card as part of a plea deal. The proceeds from its sale will go towards Oudomsine’s restitution payment of $85,000.

 

According to US Attorney David Estes, Congress appropriated funds to assist small businesses dealing with the effects of a global pandemic. Fraudsters like Oudomsine flocked to these programs like moths to a flame, lining their own pockets.

 

The government issues COVID-19 disaster relief loans 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. This sentence emphasizes the FBI’s commitment to aggressively pursue anyone who would misappropriate taxpayer funds and divert them away from citizens in need, according to Wislar.

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice urged anyone with information about alleged fraud involving COVID-19 to report their suspicions to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.

 

 

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