Michael 
The idea that COVID relief funds have been fueling Pokemon’s meteoric rise is not new. This concept, also known as ‘stimmy money’, is suspected to be the culprit behind a number of recently inflated industries.
While the government doesn’t care what you spend your personal stimulus check on, it absolutely does care how small businesses choose to utilize their relief money. Recent court documents show that a man from Georgia received $85,000 as part of a small business relief grant from the federal government and spent nearly all of it on Pokemon cards.
Well, one Pokemon card, to be precise. It’s not known which specific card he purchased but documents reveal that he spent $57,000 on a rare card likely with the hopes of capitalizing on the growing market.
The type of loan this man received, known as the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), is exclusively for businesses and varies depending on the number of employees and the annual revenue. Documents suggest that the individual falsified these numbers in order to qualify for a larger loan. Despite the name, it should be noted that this type of hardship loan is not actually a loan. It is more akin to free money as the loan is eventually forgiven.
This is not the first example of companies abusing COVID relief loans. The federal government’s “blank check” approach to the issue has thousands of unscrupulous businesses scrambling to claim whatever they can from the pie. Believe it or not, a former NASA executive was recently caught for abusing the system in the same exact way. However, he opted to spend the money on a swimming pool instead of a rare Pokemon card.
Here is my question: what card did he buy? At a hefty pricetag of $57,000, it would have to be a vintage card of some variety.
