how do stolen property laws work?

[nageov3t]

inspired by the law and order episode I'm watching

if a guy pays 400K for something that later turns out to have been stolen, does he get the shaft?

(this is assuming the buyer thought that the deal was 100% legit and had no reason to suspect that he was buying stolen property).

 

You can try to get restitution from the seller in civil court but in a deal like that you'd probably be last in line after banks, creditors, etc.

 

[drnickriviera]

From what I remember of business law. If the item was bought in good faith and it is not a unique item (rare painting, etc) then the buyer can keep it. But that was 8 years ago and i'm not a lawyer so I actually have no idea what i'm talking about

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

I dunno, what does your state law say about it? Most states have this kind of thing available right on the web.