SavingSeaFood - Class Action / RICO suit filed against Gloucester Auction

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Class Action / RICO suit filed against Gloucester Auction

A suit filed last month against the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction, alleging that the Auction cheated two fishermen by skimming, was rewritten Tuesday into a requested U.S. District Court class action that would include more than 100 fishermen and businesses.

The expanded suit, filed in federal court in Boston, also alleges the scheme violated the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization — or RICO — Act.

"The plaintiffs' allegations are not made lightly given the significant impact they will have on an already distressed fishing community," the plaintiffs said in the preface of the amended suit, a copy of which was obtained by the Times.

The modified suit alleges that the Auction defrauded fishermen throughout the Northeast region, Maine to the Carolinas.The Ciulla family filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Tuesday to protect the mostly theoretical assets left in the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction.

Read the story in the Gloucester Daily Times

Read the text of the Class Action filing

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