Citation please.

I've never heard of stolen devices being bricked because their IMEI was blacklisted, what happens is that the network just won't let you use a device whose IMEI has been blacklisted. And not all networks use blacklists to block stolen devices. I think the UK networks do, but I do know for a fact that Orange (in the UK) accept a device which has an IMEI that has been reset to all zeros even though they shouldn't.