July 10, 2014 — The federal government has issued 70 grand jury subpoenas as part of two-year investigation into a fishing auction program widely criticized as a "license to steal" for some fishermen.
In a presentation June 17, Logan Gregory, special agent in charge of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries's Northeast law-enforcement division, said the investigation into the research set-aside auction has led to three guilty pleas, and suggested more were on the way.
"The investigation is ongoing and other targets are being actively investigated," Gregory noted in the presentation before a New England fishery management council. A NOAA Fisheries spokesman didn't return a call seeking further comment, and Gregory couldn't be reached.
In his presentation, Gregory noted grand jury subpoenas had been served "throughout New York," without specifying where, but fishing sources have said some were served in Montauk in 2012.
Meanwhile, court papers filed last week say that two Point Lookout fish dealers and a fish-dealing company, Jones Inlet Seafood, could ask to waive their right to an indictment on unspecified fishing charges to be filed in Central Islip federal court. In the past, such waivers have preceded plea deals by fishermen and a dealer on charges of illegally harvesting hundreds of thousands of pounds of fluke.
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