Tag Archives: Arnold Bengis
Freeze on illegal lobster magnate’s multi-millions
The Royal Court has decided to maintain a freeze on the assets of Arnold Bengis, who admitted his involvement in a conspiracy to land huge amounts of the prized shellfish in excess of permitted quotas between 1999 until 2001. The illegally caught lobster were shipped to the US. The court was asked to rule on whether Bengis could have access to more than $23 million, which formed part of the $37.2 million [£26.4 million] which had been the subject of a forfeiture order. An appeal against the order was launched by a Lichtenstein-based trust company. >click to read<15:06
SA government targets lobster poacher’s US trust millions after conviction
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) will be making use of diplomatic channels and legal remedies to access the funds in an international fishing kingpin’s trusts held in Jersey. Between 1987 and 2000, Arnold Bengis was responsible for poaching West Coast rock lobster and illegally importing it into the US, resulting in a decline in rock lobster numbers. The 81-year-old was convicted by the New York Southern District Court last year for poaching West Coast rock lobster and was ordered to forfeit $67m to DAFF. Bengis refused to comply with the restitution order by cleverly shielding his assets in foreign trusts. >click to read<11:17
The man who destroyed the West Coast rock lobster
It took only 14 years for Cape Town businessman Arnold Bengis to decimate one of South Africa’s most treasured marine species. Now he is being made to pay by a US court‚ which has ordered the 81-year-old to cough up $37-million (about R483-million) for pillaging thousands of tons of rock lobster. South Africa will be the first foreign government in the world to be compensated under a 117-year-old US law‚ the Lacey Act‚ which regulates imports of protected species.,,, Former DAFF head of fisheries Horst Kleinschmidt‚ who testified in the District Court in 2004 about Bengis’s fishing activities‚ quoted research that suggested that free-falling rock lobster stocks “immediately stabilised” after his operation was stopped. click here to read the story 11:53
US court opens way for SA to recoup $100m from former Hout Bay fish poaching magnate
CAPE TOWN – A New York court has opened the way for the South African government to recoup as much as $100 million from a former Hout Bay fishing magnate. Arnold Bengis served just under four years in a United States (US) prison for poaching and illegal importation of seafood into the US. Now, this South Africa’s government is going after him again, asking US authorities to attach his assets. A New York court last week agreed to resentence him. The boss of the now defunct , Bengis, was prominent in the Cape Town fishing industry for 40 years when he was sentenced in 2004 to 46 months in a US jail. click here to read the story 12:25
David Bengis to pay $1.5m for role in illegal lobster catching
David Bengis, son of former Cape Town fishing magnate and convicted poacher and smuggler Arnold Bengis, has agreed to pay $1.5 million (R20.6m) to the South African government as restitution for the illegal harvesting of rock lobster in the country’s waters. This is part of the $22.5m restitution a US court ordered Bengis senior, junior and co-conspirator Jeffrey Noll pay in restitution to South Africa for the losses caused by their importation of poached lobster to the US in violation of US law. Read the rest here 14:40
