Not sure why it hasn't been posted here yet.

Of course this kind of thing has been going on for a long time and this arrest and prosecution wont stop it. This is an organized crime ring IMO and there should be many more arrested. Greedy POS .


Undercover federal agents bust owner of New Bedford fishing business

By Milton J. Valencia (https://www.bostonglobe.com/staff/valencia) Globe Staff
February 26, 2016

The owner of one of the largest commercial fishing businesses in the Northeast was charged Friday with falsifying records to evade federal fishing quotas – an alleged scheme that was uncovered when federal agents posed as organized crime figures who were interested in buying his business.

Carlos A. Rafael, 64, the owner of Carlos Seafood Inc. in New Bedford, is slated to appear in federal court Friday afternoon. His book keeper, Debra Messier, 60, was also charged. They are both from Dartmouth.
They face up to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy and submitting falsified records to the federal government, as well as a $250,000 fine. Sentences for crimes are typically far below the maximum punishment allowed.

Authorities said that Rafael, with Messier’s help, fudged records to mislead federal monitors about the quantity and species of fish his boats caught, to evade quotas that were designed to guarantee the sustainability of certain fish species. He then sold fish to a New York City buyer for bags of cash.

Authorities said his trucks made daily deliveries, and that Rafael then had someone retrieve the cash at designated spots in Connecticut. He allegedly told agents he had earned $668,000 in less than six months, and that he smuggled some of the cash through Logan International Airport to Portugal.

The alleged scheme began to unravel in June 2015 when Rafael met with two undercover agents posing as gangsters, who were interested in buying his business.
During sales negotiation meetings, Rafael allegedly described how he kept much of his business off-the-books. At one point at a meeting in January 2016, Rafael and Messier allegedly explained what they called “the dance” — the process by which Rafael and others coordinated with his boat captains to falsify federal forms meant to track the quantity and species of fish that was caught.

Milton J. Valencia can be reached at milton.valencia@globe.com.

The Al Capole of the ocean and the people in power (police pay offs) are guilty also.
No different than our elected gov officials.
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Yeah..... just a hard working guy trying to feed his children.;)
Here's the "alleged" perp....... Scumbag



http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/voicesfromthefisheries/images/Atsea_lg.gif http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/voicesfromthefisheries/images/carlosRafaelLg.png Interviewee: Carlos Rafael
Role: Boat Owner
Date of Interview: 9/26/04
Collection: Working Waterfront Festival Community Documentation Project
Click on the link below to play the audio clip from the interviewee.

Abstract: New Bedford boat owner Rafael talks about how he built his fleet through a combination of hard work and business acumen.
Transcript:"I was still making extra money and I was buyin' another boat and I was buyin' another boat. Then they had an auction in Fairhaven when, really the scallops were in crisis. Now we're up to '95. I go to the auction; I already had saved $650,000 or $675,000 dollars. I go into an auction I end up buying. I buy the three scallopers for $615,000-- this is in November of 1995, when they send the boats out January or February of 1996 the scallopers came in full force and I started making money from all angles. Then everybody says, "Ah you were so lucky." But I mean then you had all the big wallets in Fairhaven when they auctioned the boats off but nobody had the nerve to step to the plate. A year prior to that, they had paid a million dollars to build 'em and they're sellin' 'em at $300 and a hundred and some thousand a piece. I says "I gotta be crazy not to invest; just the damn boat alone is worth that kind of money." And those are the boats they have saved me up to today; my scallopers they have done very well financially.
It's a future for guys with deep pockets. They're able to maneuver. And I'm not saying deep pockets like my case, but I can diversify. I got the draggers, I got the scallopers. I have alternatives but the guy that only got one boat he's in trouble. He is in a lot of trouble.
But this only came through hard work because when I was 16 years old and I was working 90 hours a week most of youse guys were having fun, you were partying, and you only started getting your act together when you were 23, 24, 25.
But nobody's successful in life unless they work very hard at it. Because nothing comes from the sky. I haven't seen anybody on this waterfront do well just by sittin' at the end of the pier and lookin' at the sky seein' if the dollars fall from the sky, I never seen it, otherwise I'd be sitting there."
To read Carlos's full transcript, click here (https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/vff/search/VOFComplete.jsp?inputInterviewId=129).


More on the story.....

https://www.undercur...e-for-30-years/ (https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2016/02/26/feds-rafael-told-undercover-agents-hes-been-running-fraud-scheme-for-30-years/)

Goes to show writing letters to elected officials and such..... Was just pissing in the wind.
Just like everything in the country, the system is rigged.
Money talks and bull#^&#^&#^&#^& walks.
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Yesterday a guy is found dead on one of his boats....weird coincidence?

Yesterday a guy is found dead on one of his boats....weird coincidence?

Last week a supreme court judge (conservative) found dead with a pillow over his face.
Weird coincidence?
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https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2016/02/26/feds-rafael-told-undercover-agents-hes-been-running-fraud-scheme-for-30-years/#
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Bit more detail in this one. The fines will not equal the 30 years of damage done.

I don't know ...the judge had a lot of health problems....and the pillow was not over his face. I dont believe in any conspiracy in that case.

But that has nothing to do with with the topic of poachers and the organized rape and pillaging of the ocean, which is what I wanted to discuss.

https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2016/02/26/feds-rafael-told-undercover-agents-hes-been-running-fraud-scheme-for-30-years/#
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Bit more detail in this one. The fines will not equal the 30 years of damage done.

Exactly.... and he will be back at it in no time.

I don't know ...the judge had a lot of health problems....and the pillow was not over his face. I dont believe in any conspiracy in that case.

But that has nothing to do with with the topic of poachers and the organized rape and pillaging of the ocean, which is what I wanted to discuss.

79, diabetic, history of heart problems, morbidly obese, and chain smoker. Obviously murdered. :wall:

I'd lay good odds that the dead guy on the NB boat was a junkie and died from an OD. The captains aren't all that choosy when it comes to hiring crew. I've probably represented more than 20 crew members over the last 10 years.

The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.
A test with a high failure rate in all walks of life.
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79, diabetic, history of heart problems, morbidly obese, and chain smoker. Obviously murdered. :wall:

I'd lay good odds that the dead guy on the NB boat was a junkie and died from an OD. The captains aren't all that choosy when it comes to hiring crew. I've probably represented more than 20 crew members over the last 10 years.

You are probably right Mike... ....I wasn't trying to say he was murdered to keep him quiet...could be no foul play at all or even a suicide. But I wouldn't rule out either.
The fisherman ...not the judge that is

Rafael has been kown up and down the coast for years, he is hated around here....finally caught up to him....has been known for smuggling people too

The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching.
A test with a high failure rate in all walks of life.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Carlos Raphael is the owner of 52 fishing vessels. Very high level of cheating and lying going on here.

The term poacher doesn't apply to this scum bag. This is organized crime of the highest level.
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Sadly theses are the same people who speak as subject matter experts on the current fish stocks Saying the science is wrong that the Governments management's and regulations are the things putting them out of Business.. when in reality its their own greed

Carlos Raphael is the owner of 52 fishing vessels. Very high level of cheating and lying going on here.

Tip of the proverbial ice berg I would assume.
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More on the crime boss....

"Read my lips: #^&#^&#^&#^& you"

Rafael is a cutthroat capitalist who is perpetually at war with someone: regulators, competitors, environmentalists. He battles, forever with an eye on his profit margin. Of course, he also has a history of legal entanglements.

In the early 1980s, he was thrown in jail for four months and 14 days for federal tax evasion. He operated his then fledgling business through phone calls from the federal pen. Looking back, he admits he filed his taxes incorrectly. Or, more accurately, in his own words: “I had no #^&#^&#^&#^&ing clue about that #^&#^&#^&#^&ing #^&#^&#^&#^&.”

He was taken to federal court again in the mid-90s. This time he faced charges of price-fixing. He was staring down a lengthy prison term but insisted the matter go to trial. He says he was targeted by others in the industry because he was so successful and ended up spending $1.5 million on his legal defence, which was ultimately successful. He still relishes telling off the federal prosecutor after he got off. “I told him, 'You are a #^&#^&#^&#^&ing #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&, you and the rest of the #^&#^&#^&#^&ing mother#^&#^&#^&#^&ers, so #^&#^&#^&#^& you, mother#^&#^&#^&#^&er. Read my lips: #^&#^&#^&#^& you.'” It might as well be his gravestone epitaph.

He’s had other legal headaches: he was accused of falsifying documents in order to obtain fishing permits. He has fought federal regulators, sometimes successfully, when they seized a catch illegally or fined his boats without cause. His boats have been cited for fishing for scallops in a closed area. In 2011, he made national headlines when the feds seized an 881-pound tuna that one of his boats had caught. They said it was caught illegally, but Rafael disagrees. He says that single fish could have fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars on the open market. Last year, after the local fire department cited his fleet for fire safety violations along the docks, Rafael threatened to up and move his vessels to Maine or Rhode Island. He has compared federal regulators to the Gestapo. And so on and so forth.

We are walking along the pier where his fleet is docked. The grinding of power tools can be heard from one of his 120-foot, green-and-white vessels. Rafael says one of his draggers brought in 27,000 pounds of fish last night. He says that within the last ten years, his debt at one point was $35 million. He considers the future and the prospect of his business being further curtailed by federal regulators. Facing million-dollar losses and a decaying industry, he is defiantly, absurdly obstinate.

“That’ll be a fight to the death. I’ll have them doing somersaults up there. They’re #^&#^&#^&#^&ing with the wrong guy because when I’m right, I’m right. I don’t #^&#^&#^&#^& around.”

I was worried about all the F-bombs in that article but it got auto corrected.
Thanks!

This guy is a real peach.

Sadly theses are the same people who speak as subject matter experts on the current fish stocks Saying the science is wrong that the Governments management's and regulations are the things putting them out of Business.. when in reality its their own greed :btu:

Plus the politicians in their pockets.

This guy ...Carlos Raphael ....has lied, cheated and stolen...and made millions of dollars illegally.... smuggled cash in duffle bags to Portugal. He doesn't think tax laws....or any other laws should apply to him. Give him a fair trial, then put him in prison for a long long time.....and seize his illegally gotten assets.

I and everyone else who follows the rules should be outraged......guys like him are why "our" fisheries are in such bad shape....and he has many co-conspirators that should be also brought to justice.
It will be interesting to see if he gets away with stealing and lying again, sadly with all the money he has he can probably afford to buy his way out of this again. He gets released today, maybe he will make a statement proclaiming his innocence and his disdain for laws and law enforcement.
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Last week a supreme court judge (conservative) found dead with a pillow over his face.
Weird coincidence?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Really, this was the place to post that Alex Jones drivel?

This guy ...Carlos Raphael ....has lied, cheated and stolen...and made millions of dollars illegally.... smuggled cash in duffle bags to Portugal. He doesn't think tax laws....or any other laws should apply to him. Give him a fair trial, then put him in prison for a long long time.....and seize his illegally gotten assets.

I and everyone else who follows the rules should be outraged......guys like him are why "our" fisheries are in such bad shape....and he has many co-conspirators that should be also brought to justice.
It will be interesting to see if he gets away with stealing and lying again, sadly with all the money he has he can probably afford to buy his way out of this again. He gets released today, maybe he will make a statement proclaiming his innocence and his disdain for laws and law enforcement.
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I agree with all of that

I wouldn't be shocked if he takes a duffel bag or two filled with cash and sail off into the sunset with this case pending. If there is a real chance of him getting 20 years, which i kinda doubt it is more or less a life sentence. Why not hit the road Bulger style and hope for the best.

This guy ...Carlos Raphael ....has lied, cheated and stolen...and made millions of dollars illegally.... smuggled cash in duffle bags to Portugal. He doesn't think tax laws....or any other laws should apply to him. Give him a fair trial, then put him in prison for a long long time.....and seize his illegally gotten assets.

I and everyone else who follows the rules should be outraged......guys like him are why "our" fisheries are in such bad shape....and he has many co-conspirators that should be also brought to justice.
It will be interesting to see if he gets away with stealing and lying again, sadly with all the money he has he can probably afford to buy his way out of this again. He gets released today, maybe he will make a statement proclaiming his innocence and his disdain for laws and law enforcement.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Couldn't agree more. The son of a bitch needs a baseball bat to the side of the head
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I wouldn't be shocked if he takes a duffel bag or two filled with cash and sail off into the sunset with this case pending. If there is a real chance of him getting 20 years, which i kinda doubt it is more or less a life sentence. Why not hit the road Bulger style and hope for the best.

Because currently, he's being held without bail pending a hearing to continue that, scheduled for later in the week.

Even if he's granted bail, he will have to surrender his passport (or both if he has dual citizenship) and possibly even have to be under house arrest and wear a GPS ankle bracelet.

Because currently, he's being held without bail pending a hearing to continue that, scheduled for later in the week.

Even if he's granted bail, he will have to surrender his passport (or both if he has dual citizenship) and possibly even have to be under house arrest and wear a GPS ankle bracelet.

Good, looks like they are taking this seriously enough.

Mike is right...he'd surely be a flight risk and need to surrender passports to make the bail release, if granted.

Scumbag.

...realeased on bond....back at work...
Operating business as usual......reports of 6 million dollars in a Norwegian bank.....this is how broken our system is. Too bad but im afraid that he will get away with this..judge decided he wasnt a flight risk.
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...realeased on bond....back at work...
Operating business as usual......reports of 6 million dollars in a Norwegian bank.....this is how broken our system is. Too bad but im afraid that he will get away with this..judge decided he wasnt a flight risk.
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That's because his check cleared!!

...realeased on bond....back at work...
Operating business as usual......reports of 6 million dollars in a Norwegian bank.....this is how broken our system is. Too bad but im afraid that he will get away with this..judge decided he wasnt a flight risk.
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Judges seem to always go light on poachers and view it as a victimless crime. Look at how all those poachers got off in the Chesapeake with just a wrist slap
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Sadly theses are the same people who speak as subject matter experts on the current fish stocks Saying the science is wrong that the Governments management's and regulations are the things putting them out of Business.. when in reality its their own greed

couldn't have said it better myself....

next time some dragger says regs are putting him out of business, lets remind him that its his own kind that are actually doing the damage

It's a $1 million bond. I wonder who (if anyone) is on the hook for it if he splits back to the Azores?