Seafood Mogul Carlos Rafael. (Photo: Stock File)

'Codfather' seafood mogul pleads guilty in fish scam

UNITED STATES
Friday, March 10, 2017, 21:40 (GMT + 9)

Massachusetts fishing magnate known as Carlos “The Codfather” Rafael agreed to plead guilty in a scam involving catch quotas and smuggling money to Portugal, according to Federal prosecutors.

It was also reported that Rafael, who is said to own the largest fleet of fishing boats in New England, falsely claimed his vessels were catching haddock or pollock, when they were really catching rarer, pricier species subject to stricter quotas, The Toronto Sun informed.

Officials informed that the indictment had revealed that during four years the seafood scammer obtained a profit amounting to USD 660,000 in cash.

The seafood mogul was caught red-handed as agents pretended to be organised criminals waiting to buy fish.

Rafael was reported to sell his illegal catch to a convicted felon called Michael Perretti, who ran South Street Seafoods in the heavily mob-infiltrated fish market in New York.

Meanwhile, environment organisation representatives consider it is likely that due to the scam, there may be misleading data on the true state of fish stocks.
 
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