Pokémon cards have become an investment for many collectors. Especially rare specimens can fetch horrendous sums. One man from the USA has been sent to prison for it.
What did the man do wrong? The now 33-year-old V. Oudomsine borrowed money from a loan program of the Small Business Administration. The loan was meant to serve as aid for small businesses that needed financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oudomsine received around 82,000 euros for his small business, which supposedly employed 10 people. However, according to the United States prosecutor’s office, such a business never existed. The convicted man partly used the money to buy a particularly rare Pokémon card in January 2021. This made him guilty of a crime.
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Criminal bets on the value of Pokémon card
Why did he spend the money on a Pokémon card? The card is a first edition of Charizard. In recent years, the prices for older cards have skyrocketed, allowing many fans to earn a horrendous sum by selling their cards. No wonder, that thieves have even started stealing the valuable cards.
The fraudster likely speculated that the card would increase in value. This way, he could not only pay back the loan but also pocket some money for himself. However, Oudomsine is said to have bought the card at the most inconvenient time.
When the then 31-year-old bought the card, it was supposed to have reached its peak value. Therefore, it would not have been possible to sell Charizard at a higher price. According to Price Charting, the current value of a comparable card is about 26,100 euros. Thus, the criminal’s plan went wrong.
What kind of punishment did he receive? Due to the embezzlement of the aid funds, Oudomsine was sentenced to 3 years in prison in 2022. Additionally, he was not allowed to keep the Charizard card – it was seized by federal authorities. Unless something has changed in the meantime, Oudomsine is presumably still in prison.
To see in advance which cards are included in a pack, medical technology can be used. A YouTuber has presented a method that allows him to peek into unopened boosters for a fee: “Collecting Pokémon cards will never be the same again” – scans using medical technology reveal the contents of booster packs
