Tag Archives: fraud
Fraud, breach of trust charges dropped against former Baffin Fisheries Coalition CEO
Garth Reid, 52, was charged in March 2021 with fraud over $5,000 and criminal breach of trust, stemming from his time as the company’s leader between October 2016 and April 2017. In the fall of 2017, Baffin Fisheries terminated Reid and sued him in civil court for $1.4 million, alleging that he built on his private property in Winterton, N.L. and billed the company for the work. In a statement of defence, Reid denied the allegations against him and said if any payments were made by Baffin Fisheries for his own property, he didn’t know about it and they were done out of negligence by the company. He counter sued for $20 million over breach of contract and defamation. >click to read< 09:35
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.
How the illegal pursuits of a fishing empire could affect an entire industry already struggling under intense regulation.
He’s been dubbed the Codfather. Carlos Rafael, owner of a fishing empire that is the largest in the Northeast if not the country, is accused of exploiting federal fishery regulations to get ahead and misreporting hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish. His alleged crimes expose the pitfalls of a system meant to help fishermen and their catch coexist. It’s a tale of fraud, smuggling and organized crime better suited to the big screen than the docks of New Bedford.,, Besides tax evasion and fraud, the problem with Rafael’s plan is that it undermined the efforts of federal authorities to manage healthy fisheries and avoid over fishing. Fishermen from Rhode Island to Maine have had their catches limited by federal quotas since 2009 under a program regulators say promotes sustainable fishing, but for many fishermen it’s meant hanging up their hooks. During the first year of the catch-share program, there were 440 commercial boats. That number dwindled to just 120 by 2013. Read the story here 09:16
