> plausible deniability
For buying goods from random people instead of a distributor? No of course not. Any reasonable person would be suspicious.
For buying goods from random people instead of a distributor? No of course not. Any reasonable person would be suspicious.
[a]: They are a person you don’t know, but it’s not like a flea market where you can’t read reviews before handing over the money
Yes, if one has bought many shirts, bags, laptops from these people; even in this case, prosecutors don't go after the fencers(middlemen) directly. They bust the small guys, who flip for plea deals. Then these 'thieves' wear the wire and sell stuff to these fencers; this is how prosecutors collect solid evidence to convict fencers.
But for criminal prosecution the fault should be proven beyond any reasonable doubt. IANAL, but proving beyond any reasonable doubt a person knew the item he's buying was stolen is more difficult than not.
It's not an unusual concept in common law. It's like manslaughter - you can have had absolutely not intention whatsoever to kill or harm someone, but still be held responsible for their death because you weren't careful enough.