Saving Seafood

Former Bristol sheriff’s deputy sentenced to one year in prison for smuggling illegal fishing profits

October 20, 2017 — A federal judge sentenced a former Bristol County sheriff’s deputy Thursday to a year in prison and three years of supervised release for smuggling thousands of dollars in profits to Portugal for a Massachusetts fishing magnate who was trying to dodge fishing rules, prosecutors said.

Antonio Freitas, a longtime task force officer with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, smuggled $17,500 through airport security in February 2016, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office in Boston. Freitas, according to the statement, later deposited that money in a Portuguese bank account belonging to Carlos Rafael, a New Bedford commercial fishing mogul known as the “Codfather.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

Timeline: Case of Carlos Rafael

September 26, 2017 — Feb. 26, 2016: Federal authorities raided Carlos Seafood on South Front Street in New Bedford, arresting owner Carlos Rafael, 64, and bookkeeper Debra Messier, 60, both of Dartmouth, on charges of conspiracy and falsifying records. Rafael was held without bail; Messier was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

March 2, 2016: Rafael is allowed to return home under strict conditions of a $1 million bond; he is allowed to continue working, too. Rafael and his wife, Conceicao, agree to place their Tucker Lane home in North Dartmouth and Carlos Seafood as collateral for the bond.

March 25, 2016: Prosecutors receive an extension of the deadline to indict Rafael. The length of the deadline’s extension is not disclosed.

May 4, 2016: Rafael has been indicted by federal prosecutors for lying about fish catches and smuggling cash to Portugal through Logan airport in Boston, in a multi-year scheme involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to court documents. The indictment lists 27 counts against Rafael, for charges including conspiracy, false entries and bulk cash smuggling. Rafael is alleged to have falsely reported the species of more than 815,000 pounds of fish to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) between 2012 and January 2016, according to the Office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.

May 4, 2016: Antonio Freitas, 46, of Taunton is charged with using his special assignment status as a member of the Department of Homeland Security Task Force, which gave him access to restricted areas of Logan International Airport, to help Rafael smuggle cash out of the U.S. Freitas is a member of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Honor Guard.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Former sheriff’s deputy convicted of smuggling in fishing scheme

July 19, 2017 — A former Massachusetts sheriff’s deputy has been convicted of helping a fishing mogul known as “The Codfather” smuggle profits out of the country.

A federal jury in Boston found 47-year-old Antonio Freitas guilty Wednesday of charges of bulk cash smuggling and structuring the export of U.S. currency. The former Bristol County sheriff’s deputy will be sentenced in October.

Prosecutors say Carlos Rafael, who owns Carlos Seafood, Inc. in New Bedford, lied to federal authorities for years about the quantity and species of fish his boats caught to evade federal quotas.

Rafael pleaded guilty in March to federal charges of evading fishing quotas and smuggling money to Portugal.

Prosecutors say Freitas helped Rafael smuggle the profits to Portugal while also working as a Department of Homeland Security task force officer.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

Court splits cases for fishing mogul, deputy

December 14th, 2016 — Federal authorities prosecuting New Bedford fishing magnate Carlos Rafael released a small trove of documents this week that made at least one thing pretty obvious: It didn’t take long for accused co-conspirator Antonio Freitas to drop Rafael into the bag once the law showed up.

The documents were attached to the government’s response to separate-but-similar motions by Rafael and Freitas to be tried individually.

They included partial transcripts from recorded conversations between Rafael and the undercover agents in which Rafael appears to talk about his family joining him in the alleged cash smuggling.

U.S. District Court Judge William Young on Monday granted the motions to sever the trials of the two defendants, with Rafael scheduled to go first on Feb. 6 in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Freitas, a Bristol County sheriff’s deputy, is set to be tried following the completion of Rafael’s trial.

Prosecutors have charged Rafael with one count of conspiracy and 25 counts of making false statements to fishing regulators about the species of groundfish he landed in New Bedford and fish he was selling off the books.

They’ve also charged Rafael and Freitas with one count each of bulk cash smuggling.

“The cash smuggling is where the co-defendant, Antonio Freitas, comes in,” the government wrote in its response to the motions.

Read the full story at The Gloucester Times 

Partial transcript of Rafael’s meeting with undercover IRS agents revealed

December 12, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Documents filed in U.S. District Court in Boston Thursday show seafood mogul Carlos Rafael implicating his whole family in his alleged scheme to smuggle cash to the Azores and turn large catches of protected fish into large amounts of cash by selling them under the table.

Rafael is also quoted as boasting that he pressured Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson, into giving Deputy Sheriff Antonio Freitas a raise and promotion, and in turn using Freitas to get large amounts of cash around immigration and customs at Logan Airport.

The document is an official response to requests by Rafael and Freitas to be tried separately to preserve their individual rights.

The items are contained in a partial transcript of a meeting Rafael had with two men he thought were Russian businessmen but who were actually IRS agents operating under cover to learn how Rafael did business.

Rafael explained that as many as eight people in his family would make the trip to the Azores carrying cash that Freitas could bypass from customs.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Indicted fishing magnate Carlos Rafael granted later curfew to work longer hours on waterfront

June 30, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Indicted fishing magnate Carlos Rafael has been granted a later curfew to work longer hours this summer, according to court documents.

“With the arrival of summer, and more activities on the waterfront, Mr. Rafael is needed on the docks to tend to various issues regarding his fishing vessels,” stated a request filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. “With daylight extending to past 8:30 p.m. throughout the summer months, the present conditions of release prevent Mr. Rafael from working until sundown as is his usual practice.”

Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessey, who set Rafael’s bond conditions in March, granted the request Wednesday. The change enables Rafael to return to his North Dartmouth home by 8:30 p.m. nightly, rather than the initial, 7 p.m. curfew.

Rafael, 64, remains released on bond totaling $2 million. Bond conditions require him to wear electronic monitoring equipment.

He is scheduled for a January 2017 trial on 27 counts of federal charges including conspiracy, false entries and bulk cash smuggling. Also facing trial then is alleged smuggling accomplice Antonio M. Freitas, a 46-year-old Taunton resident and Bristol County Sheriff’s Office deputy, suspended without pay. Freitas faces two federal counts, one for bulk cash smuggling and one for international structuring.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Carlos Rafael trial set for January 2017

June 23, 2016 — BOSTON — The trial of indicted fishing magnate Carlos Rafael and alleged smuggling accomplice Antonio M. Freitas is scheduled for January 2017, which would be nearly a year after federal authorities raided Rafael’s seafood business on New Bedford’s waterfront.

The two defendants’ cases have progressed side by side so far. Neither appeared in U.S. District Court on Wednesday in Boston, where District Court Judge William G. Young scheduled their trial to begin on Jan. 9, 2017, in a brief status conference.

Neither a federal prosecutor nor lawyers for Rafael and Freitas commented afterward.

Rafael, a 64-year-old Dartmouth resident who owns one of the largest commercial fishing operations in the U.S., including scores of New Bedford-based vessels, faces 27 counts on federal charges including conspiracy, false entries and bulk cash smuggling, according to the indictment filed last month.

Freitas is a 46-year-old Taunton resident and Bristol County Sheriff’s Office deputy, suspended without pay. He faces two federal counts, one for bulk cash smuggling and one for international structuring.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Judge sets new hearing date for indicted fishing magnate Carlos Rafael, sheriff’s deputy

May 26, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The next scheduled court date for indicted fishing magnate Carlos Rafael is a June 22 status conference in Boston, and a trial would have to begin by early September should the case go that far, according to court documents filed this week.

The status conference also will include indicted Bristol County Sheriff’s Office deputy Antonio M. Freitas, a 46-year-old Taunton resident. The conference will be held at U.S. District Court in Boston, and signals the transfer of Rafael’s and Freitas’ cases from Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy to District Court Judge William G. Young.

This week’s documents also shed light on when potential trials for Rafael and Freitas could begin.

Prosecutors’ indictment of Rafael and Freitas was unsealed May 9, and Freitas appeared in court that day, meaning the Speedy Trial Act would require a trial to begin within 70 days of that initial appearance. Young ruled this week, though, to start the 70-day clock at the June 22 status hearing, rather than May 9. A motion requesting the extension had been agreed upon by prosecutors and defense counsel.

“They might want a little time to stall and delay in order to explore a plea bargain,” said Boston criminal defense attorney Peter Elikann, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bar Association and legal analyst who is not involved in either case.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Sheriff’s deputy charged with smuggling in fishing scheme

May 10, 2016 — BOSTON — A Bristol County sheriff’s deputy has been indicted on charges he helped a New Bedford fishing mogul smuggle profits out of the country.

Antonio Freitas, of Taunton, was arrested Monday for bulk cash smuggling and related crimes.

Prosecutors say Carlos Rafael, who owns Carlos Seafood, Inc., lied to federal authorities for years about the quantity and species of fish his boats caught to evade federal quotas.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Boston Globe