A Florida businessman has been sentenced to five and a half years in federal prison after using nearly $8 billion in stolen federal COVID-19 relief funds to buy a private island.
A freshwater spring bubbles amid the mangroves, cabbage palms and red cedars on Sweetheart Island , a two-acre uninhabited patch of paradise about a mile off the coast of this little Gulf Coast town. Pelicans divebomb nearby into the cool waters of Florida 's Withlacoochee Bay and the open view westward holds the promise of dazzling sunsets. It may have seemed like an ideal getaway for Florida businessman Patrick Parker Walsh.
Vinath Oudomsine of Georgia also created a fake company that he claimed made $235,000 a year and had 10 employees. A few weeks after Oudomsine applied for the pandemic aid, the government rushed him $85,000 to keep his non-existent business afloat. Oudomsine spent nearly $58,000 on a 1999 Charizard Pokémon card, which depicts a gold dragon-like creature, jaws wide open, poised to attack. While not as valuable as rare baseball cards — a mint condition Mickey Mantle card sold for $12.
Freshwater Spring Mangroves Cabbage Palms Red Cedars Sweetheart Island Gulf Coast Town Withlacoochee Bay Florida Getaway
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