US Businessman Spent Over S$78,000 of COVID-19 Relief Funds on a Pokemon Card

By
Zhi Hao
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How far would you go to catch them all? Because for one man, it meant risking everything.

Though of course, in hindsight, it really wasn’t the best move on his part.

US Businessman Spent Over S$78,000 of COVID-19 Relief Funds on a Pokemon Card

You may have heard of Vinath Oudomsine. But if you haven’t, well, here’s a heads up:

He’s a Pokemon master.

Though unfortunately, he appears to be more similar to Giovanni than the protagonist.

So here’s the backstory. On 14 July 2020, the man applied for financial help from the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EDIL), a scheme that was designed to assist badly-struck small businesses during the course of the pandemic.

To be eligible, one had to hand in an online application and give information about its operations, including the number of staff members, gross revenue for the year before the pandemic, and the cost of goods sold in the same time period.

All information should also be true.

In Oudomsine’s case, he claimed to be the sole owner of a business that raked in USD$235,000 (around SGD$317K) within a 12-month span, and allegedly had 10 employees.

Financial help was subsequently rendered, and USD$85,000 (around SGD$115K) was transferred to Oudomsine’s bank account.

With that, his business would have been promptly saved and he would have been able to fight back against the accursed pandemic. Right?

Well, not quite.

For one, it was false representation on his part.

And for two, the funds weren’t used for any positive means.

Catch Them All

Instead, Oudomsine would eventually fork out USD$57,789 (around SGD$78K) for a…

Pokemon card.

Before you wag your finger at me for false representation on my part, however, please know that pokemon cards can fetch as much as hundreds of thousands.

Case in point, this:

So in a sense, Oudomsine wasn’t exactly a lone warrior in his conquest in that sense.

Though of course, his method was certainly wrong.

As such, it was only natural that he has to face the consequences.

If convicted of wire fraud, he could face up to 20 years in prison and USD$250,000 (around SGD$337K) in fines.

And to think that it was majorly because of a single printed card.

Other Instances

This is hardly a first time that someone has gone to such extreme lengths to procure a Pokemon card though.

Sometime back, 28-year-old Kensuke Nakanishi had broken into a six-storey building from the exterior, with nothing but a rather tight rope.

He reportedly committed the feat, which Tom Cruise would’ve been proud of by the way, to get his hands on an array of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

And in other news, a Polk County firefighter reportedly stole $165 worth of Pokemon cards at a nearby Walmart in 2020.

He was spotted switching bar codes on the cards, and had intended to “flip” the cards for extra profits.

Apparently, both committed the deeds not to become the leaders of their regional gyms, but because of financial difficulties.

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Featured Image: Francesko221 / Shutterstock.com

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Zhi Hao
Email: [email protected]