An expert discusses its likely fate.
You might think $10 million in stolen jewelry — especially Kim Kardashian West’s jewelry, some of which has been repeatedly shown off on social media — would be hard to get rid of.
But the thieves certainly had a plan, jewelry theft expert Scott Selby tells Hollywood Life. And in fact, the diamonds will likely hit the black market within days — if they aren’t already there.
The jewelry would immediately land in the hands of a fence who would “take it apart, melt down any precious metals, any medium to small stones … the fence will know somebody in the industry who will buy them at a discount, says Selby, who is co-author of “Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History,” about the 2003 theft at the Antwerp Diamond Center.
From there, he says, the jewelry could change hands multiple times without anyone knowing its origins — meaning it could land on the consumer market within months.
Larger stones like Kardashian’s 20-carat bridal ring present a more challenging case, but there are certainly options. That ring is reportedly the main piece that the thieves seemed to be targeting.
“You could either hold onto it, you can sell it to a buyer who is fine with it being stolen — which is very hard to find, or you can change the stones to make them unrecognizable,” Selby says.
Kardashian West was recently robbed of her jewelry by assailants who dressed as police. They tied up the reality TV star in a Paris apartment where she was staying and took the ring along with items from a jewelry box and two iPhones, according to reports.
Read more at Hollywood Life