NOAA has yet to determine fines and penalties in civil case involving Carlos Rafael
October 16, 2017 — So far, New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael has lost a fraction of his fishing empire after pleading guilty to 23 counts of false labeling and identification of fish, as well as cash smuggling, conspiracy, falsifying federal records and tax evasion. He was found guilty and sentenced to nearly four years in jail last month.
But there could be millions more in fines and penalties as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decides what civil measures to impose on Rafael. Fishermen and environmental groups have been lobbying for that money to go toward restoring the fishery, and many would like to see it pay for better monitoring of what fishermen catch at sea and land on shore.
“We’re looking ahead to the civil phase and hope there will be some visibility (public input),” said Johanna Thomas, a senior director for the Environmental Defense Fund. “We agree that the money from (criminal) and civil cases go to funding the monitoring system.”
But how that happens is still a bit of a mystery.
At the time of his sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge William Young required that Rafael pay a $200,000 fine and $108,929 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury for the smuggled money and tax evasion. This past week, Young also determined that Rafael would forfeit four fishing vessels that participated in Rafael’s scheme to get around a lack of quota in certain species. Rafael also forfeited 34 of what Young termed “permits.”