Tag Archives: F/V New Age
Montauk Fisherman Gets 30 Months for Fraud
Christopher Winkler, 64, whose trawler is called New Age, was convicted last October on one count of federal criminal conspiracy, two counts of mail fraud, and two counts of obstruction of justice. A federal jury was unanimous in finding the evidence convincing that between 2014 and 2017, Mr. Winkler had falsified fishing reports to sell the fluke and black sea bass well in excess of legal limits with a “conservative wholesale valuation” of $750,000, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Last Thursday, Judge Joan M. Azrack of the U.S. Eastern District Court in Central Islip sentenced Mr. Winkler to 30 months in prison with two years’ supervised release. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:24
Long Island Fisherman Sentenced for Role in Fisheries Fraud Conspiracy
A Long Island, New York, fisherman was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison and two years of supervised release for his role in a fisheries fraud conspiracy associated with his captainship of the trawler F/V New Age from 2014 to 2017. In October 2023, a jury convicted Christopher Winkler, of Montauk of one count of federal criminal conspiracy, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of obstruction of justice. On at least 200 fishing trips, Winkler targeted summer flounder (fluke) and black sea bass and harvested those fish in excess of quotas and state trip limits. He also falsified Fishing Vessel Trip Reports for those trips. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:45
Federal Jury Convicts Montauk Fisherman
A federal jury convicted a Montauk fisherman on Wednesday of falsifying records in order to sell fluke and black sea bass in quantities that vastly exceeded legal limits. Christopher Winkler, captain of the trawler New Age, was found guilty in federal court in Central Islip on five counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and obstruction of justice for filing false reports to federal regulators. Bryan and Asa Gosman, both of Montauk, were also initially charged, but the cousins, who are among the owners of Gosman’s Dock in Montauk, cooperated with the prosecution and testified against Mr. Winkler. Each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and were fined. Richard Levitt, an attorney representing Mr. Winkler, said in an email on Wednesday that Mr. Winkler will appeal the conviction. A sentencing date has not been set, he said, nor have sentencing guidelines been determined. >>click to read<< 07:56
Fisherman Convicted in Plot to Sell $900,000 of Illegal Fluke and Bass
A Montauk, N.Y., fisherman accused of vastly exceeding legal limits on how much fluke he could bring ashore was convicted on all charges in a federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday. Chris Winkler, 63, captain of a 45-foot trawler called the F/V New Age, was accused of falsifying records in order to sell illegal fluke, also known as summer flounder, and black sea bass to partners from Gosman’s Dock, a mini-empire of restaurants and shops in Montauk, and dealers in the New Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx. Prosecutors said the over-quota fish was worth nearly $900,000 on the wholesale market. Two cousins from the Gosman family were initially charged — but they flipped and testified against Mr. Winkler, with one claiming he had helped the F/V New Age evade detection by the Coast Guard. Mr. Winkler could face many years in prison on five charges of conspiracy, obstruction and mail fraud, though he is unlikely to receive a lengthy sentence under federal sentencing practices. He was stoic as the verdict was read in court on Wednesday. His lawyer Richard W. Levitt vowed to appeal, and said the case was based on outdated legal limits on fluke fishing. “There is nothing at all rational about this system, but Mr. Winkler and other Long Island fishermen are easy scapegoats for this regulatory insanity,” he said. >>click to read<< 15:28
Montauk Fisherman on Trial for Conspiracy, Fraud Related to Fish Selling Scheme
A Montauk commercial fisherman is standing trial in federal court in Islip on felony charges of fraud and conspiracy related to the sale of what the government says was $850,000 worth of illegally caught fish sold through the well-known wholesale fish market Bob Gosman Co. Federal prosecutors have charged Christoper Winkler, 63, with committing wire fraud and mail fraud by falsifying landing reports to under-report exactly how many fish he had caught and sold on hundreds of fishing trips between 2014 and 2017, and by conspiring with the Gosman’s wholesale company to conceal the source of the fish being sold at New York City wholesale markets. Winkler’s vessel, the NEW AGE, is a relatively small, fire engine red, 45-foot steel-hulled commercial trawler that has fished out of Montauk for more than 30 years. >>click to read<< 17:46
Superseding Indictment Charges New York Fisherman with Conspiracy, Fraud and Obstruction
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York unsealed a superseding indictment charging a fisherman with both conspiracy and substantive charges in connection with a scheme to illegally overharvest fluke and black sea bass. Christopher Winkler, 61, of Montauk, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, to obstruct NOAA through the falsification of fishing logs, and to unlawfully frustrate NOAA’s efforts at regulating federal fisheries. The superseding indictment alleges that between May 2014 and February 2017, Winkler, as captain of the F/V New Age, went on at least 220 fishing trips where he caught fluke or black sea bass in excess of applicable trip limits. >click to read< 16:55
An indictment is merely an allegation and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Operation One-Way Chandelier – Two members of Gosman family plead guilty in over-quota fish plot
Two members of the Gosman family pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count each of criminal conspiracy for their role, and that of their Montauk company, in an alleged plot to buy over-quota fish from a local trawler captain,,, Bryan and Asa Gosman pleaded guilty to the single conspiracy count,,, A Montauk fisherman also named in the case, Christopher Winkler, has pleaded not guilty. Peter Smith, a Northport attorney for Winkler, said the Montauk trawler-boat captain of the New Age “maintains his innocence.” >click to read< – Gosman’s Market Owners Admit 250K Fish Fraud – The indictments were part of Operation One-Way Chandelier, an ongoing multi-year investigation into fisheries fraud on Long Island being led by NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. >click to read< 17:47
Two members of Montauk Gossman fish dealer family charged with conspiracy and obstruction
Two Montauk fish dealers, members of the Montauk Gothman family, will be charged with conspiracy and sabotage in a federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday alleging illegally caught fish. Brian, Asa Gosman, and Bob Gosman Dock Inc. will be indicted in the indictment, according to documents submitted to the court of the Central Islip Eastern District Court. Christopher Winkler, a fisherman who allegedly sold Gossman fish caught above legal limits, was charged last week and acquitted of related plots and sabotage, his lawyer Peter of Northport. -Smith said he declined to comment further. >click to read< 18:05
Feds charge Montauk fisherman, Gosmans with violating fishing limits, conspiracy, obstruction
Charged with Conspiracy, Fraud, and Obstruction – Today, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York unsealed the indictment of one fisherman, a wholesale fish dealer, and two of its managers for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and obstruction in connection with a scheme to illegally overharvest fluke and black sea bass. All four defendants are from Montauk. >click to read< Other stories of F/V New Age, >click here<
It’s back out to sea for fisherman Billy ‘the Kid’ Carman
It was just 12 days since Billy “the Kid” Carman and his crew had been rescued after the fishing trawler New Age took on water in heavy seas 20 miles south of Fire Island Inlet. Now, on Feb. 24, Carman was back at the Montauk commercial fishing dock, preparing for another deep-sea trip. The need for income had forced him to change hats from captain of the New Age to deckhand on the longline fishing vessel, the Kimberly, Carman said during a break from a day of preparations for up to 10 days on the water. >click to read< 06:23
F/V New Age: How Coast Guard saved a Montauk fishing crew
Mike Havens was asleep in the galley of Montauk fishing trawler, New Age, around 20 miles south of Fire Island Inlet when a mate woke him with a line that is every fisherman’s nightmare. “Mike, the boat is sinking,” he was told. It was shortly before 3:45 a.m. on Feb. 12, and the three-man crew had fished for fluke most of the previous day, packing more than 1,500 pounds of fish in the hold until 10 p.m., and were steaming to New Jersey to unload their catch. Now, the sky was black, the wind was up around 30 knots and swells were level with the stern, a sign of trouble. Deck lights lit the scene phosphorescent white. photos, >click to read< 19:37
F/V New Age: Fluke Run From Montauk Turns Into Close Encounter With Hypothermia
Capt. Bill Carman was on a routine fluke run with Mitchell Lester of East Hampton and Mike Havens of Springs, all experienced fishermen, when the seas came up in the early morning hours of Feb. 12. Their boat, the New Age, a Montauk-based 50-foot fishing vessel owned by Chris Winkler, stayed afloat, but listed to one side so much they feared it would roll over. The men refuted an early report from the Coast Guard last week that they were in the water when help arrived. >click to read< 08:48
F/V New Age: Captain lands vessel at Belford Seafood Co-op after salvage operation, including the fish!
Chris Winkler was not on his boat the New Age when it became distressed off the coast of Fire Island Wednesday morning. The boat began to take on water and the crew radioed for help,,, “First thing, you know, ‘Hey, are my guys all right?’ And that’s all I needed to hear was that they were all right. That changed everything from that point on,” Winkler says. “ But with the crew present and accounted for – Winkler realized that he could salvage the New Age. So, with the help of his brother-in-law Matt Fabrizio, Video, >click to read< Archives: F/V New Age, >click< 05:44
F/V New Age Owner Desperately Trying to Save Sinking Boat
The owner of the New Age, a commercial fishing vessel from Montauk that took on water Wednesday morning, forcing its crew to evacuate the boat 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island, raced to his boat and is now aboard, heading for a New Jersey port in an effort to save it. Chris Winkler of Montauk, the boat’s owner, had just landed at J.F.K. Airport after a two-week vacation with his girlfriend, Tracy Stoloff, when he received a call from the Coast Guard that his crew had been forced overboard. “The first question out of Chris’s mouth when he was talking to the Coast Guard is ‘How is my crew? Where is my crew?’ ” >click to read< 06:03
Three rescued from sinking Montauk fishing vessel taking on water
Three crew members were rescued from a Montauk-based fishing vessel that took on water early Wednesday off Fire Island, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The spokesman, P.O. 3rd Class John Hightower, identified the vessel as the 45-foot New Age, based in Montauk, and said its crew sent a distress call at 4:35 a.m., saying they were taking on water about 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island Inlet.>click to read< 17:06
