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On Friday, May 12, Long Beach brothers Alan and Andrew Pawelsky, aged 28 and 25, respectively, were charged for their involvement in trafficking catalytic converters on the black market, opening them up, and making millions off of the precious metals inside, according to the Nassau County District Attorney.
According to the charges against them, the scheme lasted from June 2021 to December 2022.
The DA’s Office claims that the brothers paid cash to middlemen to obtain large volumes of catalytic converters over the black market, which had been stolen from states such as New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, and even California.
The two men knew that these were stolen, according to the DA.
Once received, they used special equipment from Ace Auto Recycling, Alan’s Island Park company, to open the converters and retrieve platinum, palladium, and rhodium from inside – three precious metals.
While one ounce of gold is worth approximately $2,000, the DA said that rhodium is valued at approximately $7500 an ounce, making it one of the most valuable metals in the world.
The company then sent the metals to a refinery, which separated, weighed, and finally paid Ace Auto Recycling what the metals were worth.
In total, Ace Auto reportedly received $170 million from a single refinery, and the company withdrew more than $120 million in cash.
Some of the cash was used to purchase more catalytic converters, the DA claims.
Jovanie Clarke, aged 29, of Flushing, Queens, was also indicted for her role of selling these converters directly to Andrew, according to the DA’s Office.
The Pawelsky brothers were charged with:
- First-degree money laundering;
- Second-degree money laundering;
- Second-degree criminal possession of stolen property;
- Third-degree criminal possession of stolen property;
- Fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property; and
- Fourth-degree conspiracy.
Both pleaded not guilty and are expected back in court on Thursday, June 1.
If convicted, each brother could spend up to 25 years in prison.
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