Tag Archives: Asset Forfeiture Fund
Marty Stillufsen – Who is to blame? and what to do with the money!
Hello Mr. Bullard, Congratulations on your retirement. You have the proud title of being the only respondent to any of my e-mails that I have sent since 2012 (lobster leased territory management suggestion). Thank you! I recently responded to a media article on the Raphael case. I hope that it made it to your desk. “Raphael apparently has a long history of fisheries and IRS violations that has been going on for quite some time. It’s a mystery to me how the National Marine Fisheries Service avoided monitoring this individual sooner; considering the disproportionate quantity of permits he held. click here to read the letter 13:14
NOAA has yet to determine fines and penalties in civil case involving Carlos Rafael
So far, New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael has lost a fraction of his fishing empire after pleading guilty to 23 counts of false labeling and identification of fish, as well as cash smuggling, conspiracy, falsifying federal records and tax evasion. He was found guilty and sentenced to nearly four years in jail last month. But there could be millions more in fines and penalties as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration decides what civil measures to impose on Rafael. Fishermen and environmental groups have been lobbying for that money to go toward restoring the fishery, and many would like to see it pay for better monitoring of what fishermen catch at sea and land on shore. click here to read the story 12:47
Around and around we go, Where the Rogue NMFS Asset Forfeiture Fund Money goes, nobody knows! It’ll cost ya to find out!
On, or about, Sept. 15th, 2014 I inquired from the same FOIA office the following information: ‘Please forward information on all monetary disbursements from the (NMFS) …(who were the recipients and what was the dollar amounts and for what purpose) from 2010 to the present (August 31, 2014). Also, what is the current balance in the account. The charge for that request would be $2965.44 …letter attached. Business must be booming! Read the rest here 19:09
NOAA’s retreat to ‘Camelot’ – FOIA Docs spotlight $288,500 ‘workshop’ agenda
Last May, a month after a special judicial master’s second report on misdeeds by NOAA enforcement lawyers had been delivered to the secretary of commerce, NOAA General Counsel Lois Schiffer led her national staff of 145 lawyers on a three day training program in Philadelphia at a cost of $288,500, according to documents released to the Times under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. At the time of the conference, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was in damage control mode after news reports beginning in the publications Government Executive and Politico reported that another arm of NOAA, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, had advertised for a magician as a motivational speaker for a June conference at NOAA’s general offices in Silver Spring, Md. That ad was posted on the day the Philadelphia conference began — and was withdrawn on its final day. – Read more here
