A few years ago a couple of shmucks in New York were busted for a major $170 million catalytic converter theft racket.
But even $170 million pales in comparison to more than half a billion.
Via CNBC:
A New Jersey man pleaded guilty in Oklahoma federal court to leading a massive theft ring that stole catalytic converters from vehicles and sold them for more than $600 million in total to a refinery that extracted precious metals contained in the devices.
(You know I gotta point out: The last guys were in New York, this guy is in New Jersey — what's going on up there?!)
But I digress. Evidently this fellow, a car shop owner in New Jersey named Navin Khanna, was part of a nationwide criminal network in which he "conspired with others to purchase and transport large quantities of stolen catalytic converters from Oklahoma, Texas, and other states to New Jersey."
As part of his plea deal Khanna admitted that he "resold most of them to Dowa Metals & Mining, a metal refinery, which would then extract the powdered precious metals." He will face up to 17.5 years in prison.
If you live in or near any major city, you've doubtlessly seen the huge spike in converter thefts in recent years; those numbers began to skyrocket amid the pandemic.
The crime is infuriating and cowardly — though at times there has been grim karma meted out for it, too:
Given this alternative I'd say Navin Khanna got off easy!
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