A Georgia man was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting he bilked the federal government out of $85,000 and used most of it to buy a Pokemon card.
Vinath Oudomsine applied for a pandemic emergency business loan from the Small Business Administration by inflating his firm’s revenue and its number of employees.
His loan was approved in August 2020, and five months later, Oudomsine used $57,789 of the money to buy a 1999 first edition thick stamp #4 Charizard holo R Pokemon card.
He was arrested and charged in October 2021, and he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud a little more than a week later.
Rare Pokemon cards aren’t the only splurges authorities have connected to pandemic benefit cheats.
Maseratis and Ferraris have been flying off the lots as people used the money they collected from government programs designed to help the unemployed and keep businesses open amid the pandemic.
Federal prosecutors last week unveiled charges against a man they say made $71 million in lending fees after he lied his way into being deemed a non-bank lender for purposes of doling out pandemic loans.
Authorities said he spent the money on a 2017 Ferrari 488 Spider, a 2018 Porsche 911 Turbo, a 2017 Bentley Continental GT, a BMW 750 and a 1962 Mercedes Benz 190. He also bought a $10 million villa in the Dominican Republic and a $3.5 million home in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.
Analysts said the government shelled out far more than $100 billion in bogus unemployment benefit payments, and likely billions more in illegitimate business loans.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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