• Office of Law Enforcement • NOAA OLE • New England Fishery Management Council • Newport, Rhode Island
U.S. Commercial Fisheries
New England Landings $1.36B Maine - ($633M) Massachusetts ($552M) Rhode Island – ($93M) New Hampshire – ($33M) Connecticut – ($15M)
Who is Carlos Rafael? Influential New England Commercial Fishing Vessel Owner At least 40 Commercial Fishing Vessels with approximately 60 federal • permits. Controlled a large percentage of the Northeast “ground - fish” permits. • • Responsible for hundreds of fishing related jobs in New Bedford, MA. Prior Criminal History 1987 Convicted for tax evasion (served 6 mos.) • 1994 Price fixing (acquitted) • • 1999 False statements on federal forms (2 yrs. Probation) Multiple NOAA civil fisheries violations. • 881 lb. Blue Fin Tuna Illegally Caught and Forfeited November 22, 2011
Criminal Investigation: January 2015 King of New England groundfishing plans to sell his fleet out of New Bedford NEW BEDFORD - The biggest player in the New England groundfishing industry says he is cashing out of the business, selling off his scallopers and later his groundfish draggers, which count among the last in the country's top-grossing fishing port. Rafael refused to name the company but said his decision is in response to the state's cutting in half the amount of federal groundfish disaster relief aid he would get. The policy applies to all Massachusetts permit holders but will affect only Rafael because he's the only one with more qualifying permits than the 10.9 permit cap.
Investigative Team • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement (NOAA OLE) • Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID) • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) • Department of Homeland Security (DHS) • Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS)
Multi-Agency Undercover Investigation Investigation Investigative Results • IRS Agents with support of the • Egregious fisheries violations other agencies posed as to include false reporting over organized crime members a several year period. interested in purchasing • Federal tax evasion. Rafael business. • Public corruption, bulk cash • Conducted five (5) joint smuggling and structuring. undercover operations from June 2015 through February 2016 with Rafael and his business associates. • All agencies worked together focusing on their areas of expertise.
It’s Simple Math Weight of Product Sold (Total Sales) Weight of Reported Landings to NOAA Weight of Product Purchased from 3 rd Parties = Unreported / Illegal Landings
It’s Simple Math 10,000 lbs. of Grey Sole sold 3,000 lbs. reported to NOAA 500 lbs. purchased from 3 rd party = 6,500 lbs. Unreported / Illegal Landings
Environmental Impact: Estimated Overages Carlos Seafood Species of Concern “Overcatch” Species 2015 2014 2013 2012 TOTAL Cod 80,731 - - - 80,731 Sea Dabs 160,785 - - - 160,785 Grey Sole 144,180 72,804 25,948 20,919 263,851 Yellow Tail 46,840 141,025 73,305 16,274 277,444 TOTAL: 432,536 213,829 99,253 37,193 782,811
Retail Value
Retail Value
Investigation Summary • February 2016 : Search and arrest warrants • May 2016 : Rafael and s heriff’s deputy indicted • Rafael indicted on twenty-five (25) counts of Lacey Act False Labeling and Identification (16USC§3372(d)), filing false reports (18USC§1519) and bulk cash smuggling (31USC§5332) • Sheriff’s deputy indicted for bulk cash smuggling and structuring (31USC§5324) • March 2017 : Superseding information to included tax evasion (26USC§7201)
Investigation Summary • July 2017 : Sheriff deputy convicted of bulk cash smuggling and structuring the export of US currency. • September 2017 : Rafael pleaded guilty to the superseding information. • October 2017 : Sheriff deputy sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison. • November 2017 : Rafael was sentenced to forty-six (46) months in federal prison, followed by three (3) years of probation and during such time he is barred from the fishing industry.
Investigation Summary • Government sought forfeiture of thirteen (13) of Rafael’s vessels named in the indictment. • After careful consideration, the court ruled and ordered the forfeiture of four (4) of Rafael’s vessels named in the indictment. • January 2018: NOAA issued a NOVA for $983,528, consisting of thirty-five (35) civil violations involving alleged species misreporting, stock area misreporting and scallop overages. The NOVA also sought to revoke two (2) of Rafael’s boat captains operators permits. • September 2018: NOAA issued a superseding NOVA increasing the assessed civil penalty to $3,356,269. Increased alleged violations of federal fishery laws from thirty-five (35) to eighty-eight (88). Sought to revoke seventeen (17) of Rafael’s boat captains operators permits.
Investigation Summary • November 2018 : After an appeal, the court ruled for the forfeiture of two (2) of Rafael’s vessels named in the indictment and monetary payment in lieu of the other 2 vessels. • September 2019: NOAA reached a Global Settlement with Rafael. Rafael agreed to pay $3,010,633 in civil penalties and completely divest from the commercial fishing industry. The seventeen (17) captains will serve a combined 1,320 days of permit suspension, 382 months of probation and be subject to enhanced reporting requirements.
Possible Areas For Improvement • Increase and refocus monitoring efforts. 1. Dockside monitoring? 2. Increase and refine observer coverage rates? 3. Electronic monitoring? • Offloading windows. • Explore additional restrictions on vertically intergrated companies. 17
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