Imagine having $5,000,000 at your disposal - what would you splash the cash on?
A new house? The holiday of a lifetime? Another house?
One man stole the whopping sum of cash from his employer, but went on a spending spree of a different kind.
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He blew £1,000,000 on one thing in particular... a mobile video game.
Yes, you read that right.
He spent One. Million. Dollars on in-game purchases for his favorite game.
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The California man pleaded guilty to embezzling around $5,000,000 from his employer over the course of seven years.
He confessed to spending a fifth of it on 'player fees for an online video game'.
The US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of California shared a press release which announced Kevin Lee Co's guilty plea back in 2016.
The game in question was Game Of War, which was launched on mobile devices back in 2013.
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It hit a peak in 2015 when it was featured in a Super Bowl commercial starring Kate Upton.
He didn't spend all of it on the game though, with Co also spending his stolen money on 'luxury cars, home furniture, and NFL football and NBA basketball season tickets'.
He had been employed as an accounting department manager for Holt of California from 2008 until March 2015.
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In order to avoid any questions about where the money came from, according to the Attorney's Office, Co also 'engaged in a money laundering scheme' to cover his tracks.
One Redditor commented on how people could spend so much on the game: "It was absurd what the big players spent on this thing in real life. And you could lose it all... you would buy packs that had all of this stuff in it and they were usually $100/pack."
They added: "The leader of my clan was into it for around $40,000. Was playing drunk one night and fell asleep/passed out. And got zeroed, which means he lost everything. Spent enough to rebuild it all within 48 hrs."
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Another replied: "Obviously it's his fault for choosing to steal, but imagine how manipulative a game has to be to get someone to spend a million dollars."
Someone with experience replied: "I’m a game developer and I absolutely hate how some new games will gladly take a near infinite amount of money from you. I’m ok (not thrilled) with the idea of paying for new levels, or new content, but paying so you can play a few minutes more is a horrible horrible idea."
Co faced a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison but was sentenced to 10 years and was ordered to pay $5million in restitution.
Topics: Gaming, Money, Crime, True crime, US News
Jen Thomas