Man accused of spending $57,000 Covid relief fund on a single Pokemon card

A Georgia man has been federally charged with wire fraud after allegedly using more than two-thirds of his Covid-19 relief loan to pay for a single Pokemon card.

On July 14, 2020, Vinath Oudomsine, of Dublin, Georgia, falsely applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) to aid in covering the costs of “payroll, rent/mortage, utilities, and other ordinary business expenses”, prosecutors say.

In the application, Oudomsine claimed to operate a business with ten employees and a yearly revenue of $235,000. The federal charging documents do not indicate what type of business he claimed to own.

Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security [C.A.R.E.S.] Act, in March 2020, which in order to expand eligibility for small businesses to receive federal aid during the pandemic.

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In August of 2020, the Small Business Association (SBA) granted Oudomsine with a loan of $85,000. According to the documents, he used $57, 789 of the loan buy a Pokemon card in January of this year. The type of card was not disclosed. Certain rare and oftentimes “holographic” Pokemon cards can sell for thousands of dollars. A 1999 Pokemon Japanese Promo Tropical Mega Battle Tropical Wind sold for $65,100 in October 2020. Extremely rare cards, such as the Pikachu Illustrator, have sold for nearly $200,000.

Oudomsine faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Barry Paschal, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Georgia, stated Sunday that prosecutors will not comment on the case beyond the existing public record.