March 24, 2017 — The U.S. attorney included a new charge of tax evasion against Carlos Rafael as part of a “superseding” indictment released by its office last week.
The charge of tax evasion brought the total number of counts against the New Bedford fishing tycoon to 28. The others also include one count of conspiracy, 25 counts of lying to federal fishing regulators and one count of bulk cash smuggling.
According to the U.S. attorney, Rafael is expected to plead guilty to tax evasion as part of his plea agreement, which was announced earlier this month. The U.S. attorney Massachusetts provided no other information regarding the deal except that Rafael would plead guilty to evading fishing quotas and smuggling profits to Portugal in addition to tax evasion.
Rafael is scheduled in U.S. District Court in Boston on March 30 at 2:30 p.m.
The updated indictment states that from November 2014 to about October of 2015 Rafael failed to pay taxes in the sum of $108,929. It also included two new paragraphs regarding the general allegations toward Rafael.
The U.S. attorney alleges that Rafael deposited cash into accounts in Portugal to avoid paying taxes on the money. According to the indictment, Rafael told a bookkeeper for Carlos Seafood Inc. not to enter the cash payments into the company’s record-keeping system.
The U.S. attorney also alleges Rafael omitted $267,061 in reportable cash income in 2014.
Rafael spent six months in federal prison after being convicted of tax evasion in the 1980s.