Man steals almost $5 million from his company, spends $1 million of it on Game of War

[midian182]

If, hypothetically, you came into an obscene amount of money and wanted to spend a bucketload of it on some gaming-related entertainment, what would you purchase? Multiple PC setups with hardware costing tens of thousands of dollars? Your own personal arcade? Or how about $1 million worth of in-app purchases? It seems that Sacramento, California resident Kevin Lee Co is such a big fan of mobile strategy title Game of War, that’s exactly what he did.

According to the BBC, Co pleaded guilty to embezzling $4.8 million from his employer, Holt (a caterpillar machinery distributor), across a seven-year period starting in 2008. In addition to spending the ill-gotten gains on season tickets for the San Francisco 49ers and Sacramento Kings, luxury cars, plastic surgery, and home furniture, Co blew a million dollars on the title famed for its Kate Upton ads.

During his time filtering away company funds, Co was promoted to head of the firm’s accounting department, using its credit cards to fund his lavish lifestyle and apparent love of freemium apps. He even bought a golf course membership, according to his plea agreement obtained by Ars Technica. The crimes were only discovered following an investigation by the FBI and IRS.

Game of War players spend on average around $550 a year on the game – more than double the next highest grossing mobile title, according to Slice Intelligence.

Co is due to be sentenced in May by United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley. The two crimes he’s pleaded guilty to – wire fraud and money laundering – both carry maximum sentences of 20 years, but the US government’s attorney has asked for a more lenient punishment as part of the plea deal.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/67383-man-steals-almost-5-million-company-spends-1.html

 

[Bigtruckseries]

To answer the question: If I was going to spend really-long on "gaming" right now, I would purchase another 80" Vizio TV. I already have an 80" in my living room, a 50"4K in my bedroom and some smaller ones in the guest room and garage. I think I'd definitely put another in my basement. I have had 0 ISSUES with their TV's and will buy again.

As for computing: this stuff is high-priced and quickly decreases leaving you feel like you should have just waited.

But spending that kind of money on apps? That's madness.

I won't even spend $10 for igun pro.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Yeah, I think a more lenient punishment is fine. I'd sentence him to 19 years, 11 months and 29 days imprisonment for each crime, with the possibility of parole after 39 years and 9 months if I were the judge. These chumps think they are far smarter than everyone else and will never be caught, but very few actually do. His lavish spending and lifestyle should've alerted the authorities a long time ago. He can count himself lucky to get away with it for as long as he did.

 

[Trillionsin]

Game of War players spend on average around $550 a year on the game – more than double the next highest grossing mobile title, according to Slice Intelligence.

This alone just blows me away. I really hate what gaming on mobile devices has become.

Just to name a COUPLE examples for myself:

I bought Terraria for like 5 bucks, played that hours upon hours, and they even update the game enough every few months that it brings me back again, and I do a new play through.
I've been playing a simple little strategy game called Antiyoy, almost done with all the campaign levels on it though. Cost = $0.00 + NO ADS (as far as I remember, maybe ONE when I first opened the game)

I played Cartoon Throwdown there for awhile until I realized the game is rigged to make you spend money to continue playing..... like.... most.... mobile games. Not to mention ads upon ads upon ads to watch... I'm just done with it, let the younger generation waste their money on pay to win games, I refuse to and I hope more and more people start thinking this way but it doesnt seem likely. Just continues to show game developers that they can get away with charging you nickle and dime (sometimes even dollars!) for every level, skill, attachment, upgrade or whatever they can possibly charge you for.

 

[Kibaruk]

I've met the worst of them all... shame on you Schwarzenegger!! Mobile Strike, in the beginning it was mild, yet as it progressed oh my god, the achievements that gave you something in return were "spend X amount on the store", followed by "new features and building" that the only way to get was if you spent on a bundle. I may have spent $20 on it for the months I played, but hell no I won't spend another dime.

 

[hopgop1]

IMO the best "freemium" game right now is Clash Royale, no ads, you only have to spend money to progress faster, all the games you play to progress for free build your skill and you even get a ranking based on your wins. Can often become frustrating, but very fun for me to kill some time.

 

[Trillionsin]

I've met the worst of them all... shame on you Schwarzenegger!! Mobile Strike, in the beginning it was mild, yet as it progressed oh my god, the achievements that gave you something in return were "spend X amount on the store", followed by "new features and building" that the only way to get was if you spent on a bundle. I may have spent $20 on it for the months I played, but hell no I won't spend another dime.

Did he actually give them right to use his face? Or can they just do that without asking and get away with it? I've been wondering. lol

 

[Trillionsin]

IMO the best "freemium" game right now is Clash Royale, no ads, you only have to spend money to progress faster, all the games you play to progress for free build your skill and you even get a ranking based on your wins. Can often become frustrating, but very fun for me to kill some time.

Right, but don't games like that also prevent you from playing when you want to? Like, "spend money on tokens to refill your move meter" or something...

 

[OneSpeed]

I've met the worst of them all... shame on you Schwarzenegger!! Mobile Strike, in the beginning it was mild, yet as it progressed oh my god, the achievements that gave you something in return were "spend X amount on the store", followed by "new features and building" that the only way to get was if you spent on a bundle. I may have spent $20 on it for the months I played, but hell no I won't spend another dime.

Did he actually give them right to use his face? Or can they just do that without asking and get away with it? I've been wondering. lol

I think they gave him a piece of the company.

 

[Trillionsin]

I think they gave him a piece of the company.

I had a hard time believing that... but as far as I can find, which isnt much.... it's true.

“We are very excited about the launch of Mobile Strike and are thrilled to have an icon like Arnold Schwarzenegger as our partner and personification of the game. We decided to adopt the tried-and true-studio model that many developers employ and are also excited to announce Epic War, our new studio whose staff is devoted to developing and managing this new game,” said Gabe Leydon, cofounder and CEO, Machine Zone, in a statement.

Taken from this article: http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/11/a...-zones-new-mobile-strike-modern-warfare-game/

LOL AND THEN I FIND THIS:

I dont have cable TV anymore, so I miss a lot of commercials... and no I dont miss it. lol

 

[cartera]

I've met the worst of them all... shame on you Schwarzenegger!! Mobile Strike, in the beginning it was mild, yet as it progressed oh my god, the achievements that gave you something in return were "spend X amount on the store", followed by "new features and building" that the only way to get was if you spent on a bundle. I may have spent $20 on it for the months I played, but hell no I won't spend another dime.

Did he actually give them right to use his face? Or can they just do that without asking and get away with it? I've been wondering. lol

I had always wondered the exact same thing. It's definitely a likeness, but the more you look, the more you think it could be better.

 

[Trillionsin]

I had always wondered the exact same thing. It's definitely a likeness, but the more you look, the more you think it could be better.

Look further down the comments for my last one before this. It IS him, and his exact likeness. lol He actually starred in the superbowl advertisement, which I think is the video I linked to in that post.

 

[oldikes]

I've met the worst of them all... shame on you Schwarzenegger!! Mobile Strike, in the beginning it was mild, yet as it progressed oh my god, the achievements that gave you something in return were "spend X amount on the store", followed by "new features and building" that the only way to get was if you spent on a bundle. I may have spent $20 on it for the months I played, but hell no I won't spend another dime.

Did he actually give them right to use his face? Or can they just do that without asking and get away with it? I've been wondering. lol

wasnt he actually in the live action commercials?

 

[Trillionsin]

wasnt he actually in the live action commercials?

YES, lol for the 3rd time now, I even posted the commercial in a post, just a little further down.

 

[hopgop1]

Right, but don't games like that also prevent you from playing when you want to? Like, "spend money on tokens to refill your move meter" or something...

You aren't stopped from playing, just your progression reduces the more you play each day.

 

[Kibaruk]

I like the game models of MOBAs in general, putting money in is only to faster get playable characters or visual improvements like skins. No edge in actual gameplay. And with the millions of dollars tournament prizes, I'm pretty sure it's more than a decent revenue system.

 

[Billybobjoey]

Was he TheLegend27???

 

[Darius Moon]

Did the game producer not realize that this guy may have an addition problem, or is this not really that extreme of money spent on these games?

 

[Kibaruk]

Did the game producer not realize that this guy may have an addition problem, or is this not really that extreme of money spent on these games?

Would you care if someone was throwing money at you for whatever reason? Why does it always have to be someone else's fault?

 

[Darius Moon]

My posting is from an observation pov.
It could be potentially interesting if there is a % of uber rich that routinely spend that much of their discretionary funds.