March 4, 2013 — A former Gloucester fish processing company executive who pleaded guilty and served federal prison time stemming from a 1980s fishing industry scam is one of 17 people from across the country to be granted a presidential pardon by President Obama.
The list of pardons announced late Friday by The White House include James A. Bordinaro of Gloucester, who had been general manager of Gloucester’s Empire Fish Company, served 12 months in prison and paid a $55,000 fine for the scheme to illegally launder Canadian seafood. Bordinaro essentially admitted to defrauding the Defense Department by rigging government service bids and passing off Canadian-caught fish as American-landed seafood during the period between 1981 and 1989.
Bordinaro was among roughly a half dozen New England fishing industry executives who pleaded guilty to such scams, according to a 1991 report. All were charged with falsifying documents in their contracts with the Defense Personnel Support Center of Defense certifying that Canadian fish were caught by U.S. fishermen in U.S. waters, a requirement of all Defense-related government contracts.
The White House announcement Friday indicated only that Bordinaro’s sentence had been for a conspiracy to restrain, suppress and eliminate competition “in violation of the Sherman Act and conspiracy to submit false statements.” The Sherman Act prohibits business activities that federal regulators deem anti-competitive, and is basis for most antitrust litigation by the federal government.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times