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An American named David Buchanan spent tens of thousands of dollars on the online game Evony, which belonged to his client, according to Kotaku.
Buchanan worked as a financial advisor in the state of Hawaii. He took $40,000 from one of his clients, promising him a 650% return on investment (approximately $300,000).
As it turned out during the investigation, Buchanan spent the entire amount on himself, his girlfriend, and investments in the online game Evony. Most of the money went to the game, which greatly surprised FBI agent Tom Simon, who was involved in the case. "As a middle-aged man and an FBI agent who doesn't play games, I was shocked when, while tracking the defendant's expenses, I constantly noticed payments for something called Evony," Simon said. "I Googled that Evony is some kind of online game, but I still didn't understand how you could spend tens of thousands of dollars on it. [At that moment] I wasn't thinking about the social value of games; I was just stunned that you could spend so much on a game."
Evony is an online game that generally resembles "Civilization." The freemium model allows players to buy in-game items and additional content for real money. Evony is mainly known for its aggressive advertising policy: on banners with the game, publishers often placed explicit photographs.