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How to understand "turned into" in the sentence?

English Language Learners Asked on January 26, 2021

Through his son Michael, Sonny Franzese supervised a gasoline-tax-evasion scam that turned into a billion-dollar enterprise lasting for six years, until the FBI broke it up in the mideighties.

As I understand, the clause "that turned into a billion-dollar enterprise lasting for six years" modifies "a gasoline-tax-evasion scam". What confuses me is how a gasoline-tax-evasion scam can turn into a billion-dollar enterprise lasting for six years. It doesn’t seem to make much sense. Any thoughts on it?

Edit: To clarify my question: I know "turn into" can mean ‘become’, but I feel a scam becomes a billion-dollar enterprise is a bit strange.

One Answer

The scam was a way for the person to essentially steal money from the government: that is the connection between the scam and the "billion-dollar enterprise". The gasoline tax evasion scam ultimately involved billions of dollars in revenue—the writer is showing the scale of the crime by stating how large this person's business empire became during (and likely as a result of) the scam.

Correct answer by Anthony Leong on January 26, 2021

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