Feds: Man used virus relief loan to buy $57,000 Pokemon card

DUBLIN, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally obtaining a coronavirus relief loan and using more than $57,000 of the money to buy a collectable Pokemon card.

Vinath Oudomsine of Dublin, Georgia, faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of wire fraud, acting U.S. Attorney David Estes of the Southern District of Georgia said in a statement.

Prosecutors said in a legal filing that Oudomsine, 31, submitted false information to the U.S. Small Business Administration last year when he applied for a COVID-19 relief loan for an “entertainment services” business he claimed to own. They said he lied about how many people he employed as well as his business' annual revenues.

He received $85,000 from the loan program, prosecutors said, and used it to buy a Pokemon trading card for $57,789.