A Rocklin, California resident has pleaded guilty to a US judge to the embezzlement of about $5 million from the company he works for, and spent $1 million of that on “player fees for an online video game,” that online video game being “Game of War.”
Kotaku spotted the large payment
The Eastern District of California US Attorney’s Office sent out a press release announcing that the perpetrator of the crime, Kevin Lee Co, pleaded guilty to the theft on 8 December. According to the Sacramento Business Journal, approximately $1 million of the embezzled money was used to make micropayments on the online mobile game “Game of War,” which was spotted by developer Kotaku as an anomaly in customer spending.
You may know “Game of War” from its eye-catching adverts featuring buxom model Kate Upton that don’t necessarily make you get the game, but they sure do get your attention.
‘Luxury cars, home furniture, and NFL football and NBA basketball season tickets’
Besides micropayments on “Game of War,” Co reportedly spent his other stolen $4 million on “luxury cars, home furniture, and NFL football and NBA basketball season tickets,” according to the press release from the US Attorney’s Office, and somehow he thought he wouldn’t get caught and he could make all these purchases and get off scot free. Fat chance, Co.
Co worked for Holt of California
Infamous “Game of War” player Co managed the accounting department (until he was presumably fired for stealing millions from the company) for Holt of California.
To be honest, Holt of California is a pretty niche company who deal out Caterpillar construction vehicles, so it’s surprising that they let $5 million disappear before figuring our something was up. He started embezzling company funds in 2008 and stopped in early 2015, and “engaged in a money laundering scheme” to cover up the paper trail.
Interesting that he started laundering money in 2008, right when “Breaking Bad” debuted and made laundering money look cool.
Co will be fined $250,000 for the wire fraud charges and $500,000 for the money laundering charges, but apparently, he’s a millionaire now so he can afford it. He will face a sentence of 20 years starting sometime in 2017. And he would’ve gotten away with it, if he could resist the temptation of the addictive mobile game “Game of War,” but he just couldn’t.
