Saving Seafood

Carlos Rafael scallop boats to stay in New Bedford

September 26, 2019 — Eleven scallop boats from the fleet of convicted fisheries violator Carlos Rafael will keep working out of New Bedford under local ownership, a victory for industry advocates.

Charlie and Michael Quinn, the father and son co-owners of Quinn Fisheries, appeared at the docks Tuesday afternoon with New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell to announce they had closed on a deal to buy six of the boats.

The Quinns paid about $40 million, said Michael Quinn. Mitchell, who with other Massachusetts political and industry leaders pushed to keep the boats in New Bedford, said the other five vessels and their permits are also now going to new owners based in the city.

Rafael is serving a 46-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion, falsifying fisheries landing reports and related offenses. The so-called “Codfather” controlled a large share of the groundfish and scallop fleets, until he was brought down by undercover federal agents.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Forced sell-off of Rafael assets begins

September 24, 2019 — A father-and-son team from Massachusetts and other buyers are acquiring scallop fishing boats owned by a disgraced fishing magnate nicknamed the Codfather, signaling the beginning of the former mogul’s forced exit from fisheries.

The sale of Carlos Rafael’s 11 scallop boats, and their associated permits, is part of a civil settlement Rafael agreed to with the federal government that will result in his permanent removal from the U.S. fishing industry.

Rafael, once the owner of one of the largest commercial fishing operations in the U.S., was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for dodging quotas and smuggling profits overseas.

Scallopers Charles Quinn and son Michael Quinn are buying seven of Rafael’s scallop boats and selling one of them, their attorney, Andrew Minkiewicz, told The Associated Press. Court documents state the Quinns paid about $46 million for the boats.

Rafael’s attorney, John Markey, of New Bedford, confirmed the other boats have also sold, but declined to disclose the other buyers or purchase prices.

Read the full story at The Associated Press

Quinn Fisheries finalizes deal for six Rafael scallop vessels

September 24, 2019 — The following is an excerpt from a story originally published by Undercurrent News:

Quinn Fisheries, a 33-year-old, New Bedford, Massachusetts-based scallop operation, has closed its deal to purchase six of Carlos Rafael’s 11 scallop vessels and their related permits, sources told Undercurrent News.

The acquisition, which was confirmed by Michael Quinn, the operations manager and co-owner of the company with his father and founder Charlie Quinn, doubles the size of the Quinn Fisheries scallop fleet to 12 total vessels and will cost the company about $40 million.

The new vessels acquired include the Acores, Athena, Apollo, Gypsy Girl, Hera II and the Villa Nova Do II, Michael Quinn said.

Undercurrent News had earlier reported how the Quinns had a deal to buy seven of Rafael’s vessels for nearly $46 million, per an Aug. 29 purchase agreement. The deal later was confirmed by court documents related to a lawsuit filed against Rafael by the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based seafood auction.

BASE’s owners Richie and Raymond Canastra attempted to block the agreement as part of an apparent attempt to acquire the same vessels, which also possess several groundfish permits. They argued unsuccessfully that Rafael violated the rules of groundfish sector 7 related to offering other sector members the right of first refusal.

However, Merita Hopkins, an associate judge in Bristol County, Massachusetts, blocked the temporary restraining order requested by BASE, freeing up the Quinns and Rafael to complete their agreement.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

State judge’s order thwarts auction owners’ apparent last stab at buying Rafael vessels

September 19, 2019 — Raymond and Richie Canastra, the long-time owners of the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE), the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based seafood auction, have made another apparent attempt to purchase some of Carlos Rafael’s commercial fishing vessels and again have been thwarted, Undercurrent News has learned.

This time the two brothers’ effort, which involved stepping in front of another buyer, has been done in by a state judge’s order.

Merita Hopkins, an associate judge in the Bristol County, Massachusetts, Superior Court, on Friday vacated her approval, given two days earlier, of a request by BASE for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would have stopped Rafael from selling seven of his 11 scallop vessels to Charlie and Michael Quinn, the father-and-son owners of Quinn Fisheries, a 33-year-old, New Bedford-based scallop operation with six vessels already harvesting, for nearly $46 million.

The move by the Canastras, whose auction handles roughly half of all the Atlantic scallops caught in New England as well as a considerable amount of groundfish, seems to have been a prelude to them making an offer themselves for the boats, which also come with some groundfishing quota.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Rafael sitting on $46m deal for 7 scallop vessels?

September 11, 2019 — New England’s commercial fishing industry has yet to see any kind of a public announcement regarding who will step up to buy Carlos Rafael’s 30 groundfish and scallop vessels or their 43 related permits, but documents —  copies of which were obtained recently by Undercurrent News — reveal he had a deal lined up almost two weeks ago for nearly a quarter of his fleet.

Whether the deal remains in place, however, remains unknown.

A seven-page purchase agreement, dated Aug. 29 and signed by Stephanie Rafael DeMello, daughter of the imprisoned former New Bedford, Massachusetts-based seafood mogul, show him selling seven of his total 11 scallop vessels, including the Apollo and Athena, and all of their related scallop and groundfish permits to an undisclosed buyer for $45,950,000.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Fishermen question settlement of convicted Carlos Rafael

August 23, 2019 — The penalties keep coming for New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael, the self-styled “Codfather” who once dominated groundfishing in the Northeast with one of the largest independently owned fleets in the country.

He is halfway through a 46-month federal prison sentence for violations that included falsely labeling fish, smuggling cash, tax evasion and falsifying federal records. He also was fined more than $300,000 and ordered to sell off two vessels and permits in that criminal case.

This week, Rafael was hit with more than $3 million in fines and a lifetime ban as part of a settlement agreement in a civil case brought against him by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

MAYOR MITCHELL DISCUSSES NOAA LEGAL SETTLEMENT WITH CARLOS RAFAEL

August 22, 2019 — Mayor Jon Mitchell is expanding on his comments on the settlement reached this week between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the imprisoned “Codfather” Carlos Rafael.

As part of the settlement, Rafael will have to give up all commercial fishing by December 31, 2019, and all scalloping by March 31, 2020. In addition, Rafael is ordered to a $3,010,633 civil monetary penalty and relinquish the seafood dealer permit issued to Carlos Seafood by September 1.

According to NOAA, Rafael I is required to sell his fishing vessels and permits and will be allowed to keep the proceeds. Free to sell his licenses to whomever he pleases, Rafael has indicated that he intends to keep all of them in New Bedford.

Read the full story at WBSM

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