Saving Seafood

Rafael prosecutor named US Attorney for Massachusetts

December 15, 2017 — A Sharon man is the new U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination of Andrew Lelling, of Sharon, as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, clearing the way for a new top federal prosecutor to set up shop in Boston.

A 16-year veteran of the Justice Department, Lelling is already familiar with the office, having served most recently as senior litigation counsel in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office. He succeeds Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb, who took over when Carmen Ortiz, of Milton, resigned in January.

“I am honored to be confirmed as the United States Attorney and I look forward to serving the residents of Massachusetts,” Lelling said in a statement. “As a federal prosecutor I have had the privilege of working with some of the best federal and state law enforcement officers in the country. As U.S. Attorney, I will continue to collaborate with these distinguished public servants to fulfill the mission of the Department of Justice.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

 

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 

 

Bristol, Mass. sheriff’s captain charged with smuggling in Carlos Rafael case

August 31, 2017 — BOSTON — A captain with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office was arrested and charged late Wednesday in connection with helping Carlos Rafael, the owner of one of the largest commercial fishing businesses in the U.S., smuggle the profits of his illegal overfishing scheme to Portugal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

James Melo, 45, of North Dartmouth, was charged with one count each of bulk cash smuggling, structuring and conspiracy. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond following his appearance in federal court in Boston on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

In May 2015, federal agents began an undercover operation targeting Carlos Rafael, the owner of one of the largest commercial fishing businesses in the U.S. In the fall of 2015, undercover agents, posing as potential buyers of Rafael’s business, met with Rafael to negotiate buying his fishing business. Rafael told the agents that he hid the cash proceeds of his illegal fishing sales, in part, by smuggling the money to Portugal. Rafael said that he sometimes took the money himself, but also used the services of others, and referred to knowing several members of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, including Melo, whom he described as, “the captain at the prison,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement sent to news media.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Carlos Rafael, New Bedford’s ‘Codfather’, indicted on 27 counts

May 9, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Local fishing magnate Carlos 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 records filed last week and unsealed Monday.

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 of this year, according to the Office of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.

“On a yearly basis, Rafael’s routine falsification of dealer reports he submitted to NOAA created substantial discrepancies between the fishing activity he reported and the fish caught by his fishing vessels and acquired by Carlos Seafood,” the indictment states.

Bristol County Sheriff’s Office deputy Antonio M. Freitas, a Taunton resident, also is named in the indictment. Freitas is charged with two counts, one for bulk cash smuggling and one for international structuring.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Filing: Wrong Man Charged With Killing Whale off New Jersey

October 9, 2015 — A tuna fisherman charged with killing a pilot whale that died of a bullet wound said Friday the charges against him should be dismissed.

The fisherman, Daniel Archibald, said in a court filing that the investigation disregarded the facts. He alleges investigators used an illegal, warrantless search. He also says investigators ignored ballistics tests that showed a bullet in the whale could not have come from his Mosin-Nagant rifle, a World War II-era weapon.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey declined to comment on the case. The government has not yet responded to the briefs calling for the charges to be dismissed.

The pilot whale was found on a beach in Allenhurst in September 2011 and it died soon after that. Authorities determined that the 740-pound mammal starved to death because of an infection caused by a bullet that hit it about a month earlier.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News