leewgrant leewgrant:
Crooks? They didn't steal it. The government sold it.
That's not for sure yet. There's something called "Wilful Blindness" that qualifies as criminal intent and this smells like wilful blindness to me. I'll be very surprised if buyers were not put onto this sale, by the sellers, with knowledge of the "deals" to be had.
There is nothing in the story that suggests a scam. More like the bureaucrats were too lazy to get the items appraised. It wasn't just one buyer either. There were many.