Saving Seafood

Another New Bedford Fish Dealer Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

December 21, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — George F. Estudante, a former New Bedford seafood wholesaler, pleaded guilty in a Boston federal court on December 18 to two counts of failing to file tax returns and one count of filing a false income tax return.

The owner of Basic Fisheries failed to file an income tax return in 2010 despite receiving approximately $1,418,629 in payments. In 2011 he failed to file a tax return despite receiving a total of $1,607,726 for the year. In 2012 he filed a tax return saying that he received $533,078 in gross receipts. His bank account for that year showed that he received over $740,000.

Estudante will be sentenced on March 13, 2018. He faces a sentence of no greater than one year in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $25,000 for failing to file an income tax return. He also faces no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $100,000 for filing a false income tax return.

This is the second person in the New Bedford seafood industry in the last month to plead guilty to tax evasion. On November 28 Orlando Cardoso, a production manager at Seatrade International in New Bedford, failed to report $75,000 in earnings on his 2012 and 2013 tax returns.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

New Bedford seafood manager pleads guilty to tax charges

November 29, 2017 — BOSTON — A New Bedford seafood manager pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston on Tuesday to failing to report earnings on his tax returns.

Orlando Cardoso, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of filing a false income tax return. Sentencing is scheduled for March 8, 2018. The indictment said that Cardoso was a manager of the scallop division of a New Bedford seafood processor, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In 2012 and 2013, Cardoso said his only income was from his employer. However, the Department of Justice said Cardoso had received more $75,000 in cash and checks from his employer’s supplier and failed to report the income on his tax returns.

The charge of filing a false income tax return provides for a sentence of no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $100,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, authorities said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times