A Pokemon card buyer was sentenced to three years of imprisonment after using the COVID Disaster Loan to buy a rare Charizard card worth a whopping $57,000.
The Pokemon logo is seen at a Pokemon store in Tokyo on February 26, 2021. - Twenty-five years after Pokemon first began delighting children and adults alike, the phenomenon is still capturing hearts, with smartphone craze Pokemon Go enjoying record success in virus-hit 2020.
Pokemon Card Buyer and COVID Relief Fund
As per a news story by Polygon, the United States Department of Justice or the DOJ has announced in a press release that a Georgian man has been sentenced to prison for buying a Pokemon card using the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
The 31-year-old man, who purchased a rare Charizard Pokemon card apparently used a part of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan or EIDL awarded to him, which is to the tune of $85,000.
He got the money after the man said that he owned a small business that employees up to 10 staffers. Thus, he successfully got $85,000 to spare.
However, it turns out that the prosecutors claimed that the man did not have any business, to begin with.
So, instead of giving away his loan to support his "small business," the man who got $85,000 from COVID-19 relief spent a huge bulk of it to purchase an expensive Pokemon card.
To be more precise, the prosecutor claims that the Georgian man spent $57,789 from the loan to buy a holographic Charizard card.
Polygon further noted that the Pokemon card is a first-edition, which flaunts a gem mint rating of 9.5, making it a rare find for collectors. Thus, it has a hefty price tag.
COVID Relief Fund
According to a recent report by Kotaku, the government has been lending loans for numerous businesses in the United States during the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, the US government has given away more than a staggering $200 billion to various enterprises in the country.
The funding was supposed to help business owners to pay off their recurring expenses, such as their mortgage, rent, salaries for employees, as well as their monthly billings for electricity and water.
Pokemon Card Buyer Sentenced to Prison
That said, the district court judge, Dudley Bowen, has sentenced the Pokemon card buyer to up to three years in prison, which is equivalent to 36 months behind the bars.
A man takes a selfie with a Pikachu during the first day of the 2019 Pokemon World Championships at the Washington Convention Center August 16, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
On top of that, the district court judge also ordered the Charizard card buyer to pay a fine of $10,000. Not to mention that he also needs to pay a whopping $85,000 in restitution. What's more, the prosecutors have also seized the rare Charizard Pokemon card.
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Written by Teejay Boris
