Saving Seafood

Blue Harvest tipped as likely buyer of Carlos Rafael’s groundfish fleet

August 22, 2019 — Blue Harvest Fisheries, a US scallop and groundfish supplier backed by private equity Bregal Partners, is believed to have moved to the front of the pack in the chase to nab the 32 groundfish permits and 19 related draggers owned by Carlos Rafael in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Quinn Fisheries, a longtime area scalloper, appears a lock, meanwhile, to land Rafael’s 11 scallop permits and related vessels, as previously reported.

The competition is on to acquire Rafael’s sizable commercial fishing operation following the civil settlement announced on Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Carlos Rafael was a seafood kingpin, until fake Russian mobsters took him down. Now he’ll never fish again.

August 21, 2019 — Carlos Rafael was made on the waterfront. For decades, the balding seafood magnate haunted the docks and early morning fish auctions in New Bedford, Mass., where he had gone from gutting fish as a high school dropout to controlling one of the largest fishing fleets in the United States. Though he estimated his net worth at somewhere between $10 million and $25 million, he still walked the creaky, bait-scented wharves in flannel shirts and worn jeans every day, barking out commands and alternating between foul-mouthed English and rapid-fire Portuguese as he chain-smoked Winston cigarettes and monitored the day’s catch.

That all changed in 2016, when federal authorities revealed that Rafael was at the center of a sprawling criminal investigation involving fake Russian mobsters, fraudulent haddock and duffel bags of cash. Now 67, Rafael will never fish commercially again, according to the terms of a settlement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that was announced Monday. It’s the latest chapter in the downfall of the man known as the “Codfather,” who is serving nearly four years in federal prison, and, under the new settlement, owes the government more than $3 million in fines.

Under the circumstances, getting out of the fishing business was the right choice, Rafael’s attorney, John Markey, told The Washington Post. But it also amounts to a significant sacrifice for the seafood tycoon, who wasn’t yet ready to retire. Up until the day Rafael reported to prison, Markey said, he still went to work on the docks each day at 6 a.m., driving a 10-year-old pickup truck.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

NOAA settlement with Rafael clears path for big scallop, groundfish vessel selloff

August 20, 2019 — Now that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has settled its civil claims against Carlos Rafael and 17 of his former fishing captains, look for the wheeling and dealing to intensify for his 43 scallop and groundfish permits and a related 30 fishing vessels.

Almost two years after a federal judge sentenced Rafael to pay $300,000 in fines and restitution and spend 46 months in prison for 28 different criminal counts, including repeatedly lying about his catch to authorities and evading taxes, the 67-year-old, so-called “Codfather” of New Bedford, Massachusetts, reached an agreement on Monday to determine what civil penalties he might also pay.

NOAA budged little from the $3,356,269 it said in September 2018 that it would seek from Rafael, hitting him with a $3,010,633 civil money penalty. However, rather than revoking Rafael’s many limited access permits, as some in the fishing sector desired or even expected, NOAA has given him until Dec. 31, 2020 — about 16 months — to sell them along with the many fishing vessels he owns or controls through transactions reviewed and approved by the agency.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Update: Carlos Rafael to be banned from fishing, pay $3 million; captains also face penalties

August 20, 2019 — New Bedford fishing magnate Carlos Rafael will permanently give up all commercial fishing by March 31 and pay a $3 million penalty to settle the federal government’s civil claims against him, federal fishing authorities said Monday.

Allegations against the self-proclaimed “Codfather” included dozens of counts of misreporting groundfish species, underreporting groundfish, and other fishery violations related to scalloping, gear and restricted areas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it settled with Rafael and his fishing captains Monday in an administrative proceeding.

Rafael is sitting in federal prison at Federal Medical Center Devens, where he reported in November of 2017 to serve a 46-month sentence for falsifying fishing quota, cash smuggling and tax evasion in a separate criminal case.

His attorney in the civil matter, John Markey, said that considering what an appeal would require, Rafael believes the settlement is the right thing to do for him, his family, and the captains and crews of his vessels.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Senator Warren Statement on NOAA Settlement with Carlos Rafael

August 20, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement today following news that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reached a settlement of the civil case against Carlos Rafael:

“The U.S. Department of Commerce and the NOAA should do everything in their power to ensure that all of the fishing permits Carlos Rafael held remain in the Port of New Bedford. These permits sustain an industry that has been part of the fabric and the way of life in New Bedford for hundreds of years. Law-abiding fishing families and businesses have already suffered through no fault of their own, and don’t deserve to have their livelihoods taken away because of Rafael’s wrongdoing.”

Last October, Senator Warren sent a letter to the Commerce Department and NOAA urging them to keep the fishing permits in the hands of Massachusetts families and businesses.

NOAA fines Carlos Rafael $3m, requires him to cease all fishing, give up permits

August 19, 2019 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reached a settlement with Carlos Rafael that will see the incarcerated fishing mogul pay a $3 million civil fine, relinquish the dealer permit held by his Carlos Seafood business, permanently cease all groundfish and scallop fishing, and sell all federal fishing permits and fishing vessels he owns or controls by the end of next year.

NOAA said in a press release that 17 of Rafael’s former captains will receive suspensions of their operator permits ranging from 20 to 200 days and serve probationary periods of one to three years for their own violations of federal fishing rules.

According to the settlement, Rafael’s fleet must cease all groundfish fishing by Dec. 31, 2019, and end all scallop harvesting by March 31, 2020.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Carlos Rafael settles Coast Guard oil violations; feds auction boats

August 14, 2019 — Carlos Rafael, the longtime New Bedford industry figure now serving a 46-month sentence in federal prison, settled water pollution complaints for $511,000 in civil penalties, as the U.S. Marshals Service offered two of his boats at auction.

Rafael, manager Stephanie Rafael DeMello, and captain Carlos Pereira agreed to the penalty and making improvements to the Vila Nova do Corvo II. The Coast Guard charged that the vessel discharged oily bilge waste overboard at sea while harvesting scallops and that its used fuel filters were likewise dumped over the side.

Rafael pleaded guilty to falsifying landing reports, fish labeling and other records, tax evasion and cash smuggling. He was arrested in February 2016 after federal investigators, posing as Russian immigrants with sketchy organized crime connections, recorded Rafael bragging about how he routinely faked landing reports and fish tickets to evade quota limits.

In the original sentencing, Rafael had been ordered to forfeit four vessels to the government, but a final settlement allowed two of those, the Bulldog and Southern Crusader II, to be released to his wife Conceicao Rafael and other New Bedford fishermen in shared ownership.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

‘Codfather’ Rafael to pay $500,000 for dumping oily bilge

August 9th, 2019 — Carlos Rafael and his daughter will pay a $500,000 fine for the dumping of oily bilge and fuel filters from one of his fishing vessels, the Vila Nova do Corvo II.

The vessel captain, Carlos Pereira, will pay $11,000.

The proposed settlement for violations of the Clean Water Act and Coast Guard regulations was filed in federal court on Friday. The consent decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period and court approval.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times 

Carlos Rafael vessel captain sentenced for thwarting Coast Guard inspection

November 30, 2018 — A former captain of one of Carlos “Codfather” Rafael’s fishing boats has been sentenced in Boston federal court for interfering with a U.S. Coast Guard vessel inspection off the coast of Massachusetts.

South Portland, Maine’s Thomas D. Simpson, 57, was sentenced to two years of probation – with the first four months to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring – in U.S. District Court this week, after pleading guilty in August 2018 to one count of destruction or removal of property subject to seizure and inspection. Simpson was also ordered by the court to pay a USD 15,000 (EUR 13,195) fine, according to a report from WBSM.

The former captain of Rafael-owned fishing vessel Bulldog, Simpson and his crew were engaging in commercial fishing practices on 31 May, 2014, when the U.S. Coast Guard came onboard to conduct a routine inspection of the boat and its equipment.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

New Bedford Fishing Boat Captain Sentenced

November 29, 2018 — The former captain of a New Bedford fishing boat owned by Carlos Rafael, a/k/a “The Codfather,” was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for interfering with a U.S Coast Guard (USCG) inspection of a fishing boat off the Massachusetts coast.

Thomas D. Simpson, 57, of South Portland, Maine, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to two years of probation, with the first four months to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring, and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. In August 2018, Simpson pleaded guilty to one count of destruction or removal of property subject to seizure and inspection.

Simpson was the captain of the fishing vessel Bulldog, a New Bedford based commercial fishing vessel and one of several fishing vessels owned by Carlos Rafael. On Sept. 25, 2017, Rafael, often referred to as “The Codfather,” was sentenced in federal court in Boston to 46 months in federal prison on a variety of charges related to the operation of his commercial fishing business.

On May 31, 2014, the Bulldog was engaged in commercial fishing off the cost of Massachusetts when the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) boarded the vessel to perform a routine inspection of the Bulldog and its fishing equipment. At the time of the boarding, the Bulldog’s net was deployed in the water and the crew was actively fishing. The USCG Boarding Officer encountered Simpson in the Bulldog’s wheelhouse and instructed Simpson to haul in the fishing net for inspection. The fishing net is controlled from the wheelhouse by an electric winch, which Simpson activated, but instead of hauling the fishing net onto the vessel, he let out more of the cable which attaches the net to the vessel. When the USCG Boarding Officer realized that Simpson was letting the net out, he instructed Simpson to stop and to haul the net in. Simpson ignored the order and continued to let out cable until the net became detached from the Bulldog and sank.

Read the full story at WBSM