'The Codfather' Case: Bristol County Deputy Gets Prison

BOSTON, MA — A Bristol County Sheriff's deputy on Thursday was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for helping disgraced New Bedford seafood mogul Carlos Rafael — renowned as "The Codfather" — smuggle tens of thousands of dollars out of the country. Anthony Freitas, 47, of Taunton, was recently convicted of smuggling and illegally exporting currency.

U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said in February 2016, Freitas smuggled $17,500 through Logan Airport and deposited the money in a Portuguese bank account at Rafael's behest. Rafael ran New Bedford-based Carlos Seafood, up until recently one of the largest commercial fishing operations in the country. He operated a fleet of more than 30 boats. (Sign up for free daily newsletters and breaking news alerts from Massachusetts Patch sites.)

Rafael ran an overfishing scheme, underreporting nearly a million pounds of fish and smuggling the extra cash out of the country with Freitas' help.

In September, Rafael was sentenced to 4 years in prison

Rafael ran a "long-running scheme involving submitting falsified records to the federal government to evade federal fishing quotas and then smuggling the profits to Portugal," said U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in a recent statement.

“Mr. Rafael’s scheme not only compromised delicate fish populations, but also profited on the backs of his hard-working crews,” Weinreb said in a statement. “Mr. Rafael knew he was breaking the law by falsifying records, evading taxes and smuggling ill-gotten profits to Portugal. Without Mr. Rafael and his scheme, New England fishermen who work hard for honest pay can now enjoy a more level playing field.”

Added IRS Agent Joel Garland in a statement, “The fraud perpetrated by Mr. Rafael was motivated by greed, at the expense of the delicate ecosystem of the North Atlantic ocean."

The investigation included undercover agents posing as organized crime figures interested in buying Rafael's company.

Rafael underreported over 815,000 pounds of fish, according to prosecutors. He then sold the fish to a New York wholesaler for cash and said he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in the scheme.

Rafael then used Freitas to funnel the profits to a bank in Portugal, Ortiz said. Freitas gained access to Logan when he was assigned there to assist in investigations and smuggled $17,500 by flying to Portugal, according to the indictment.

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Massachusetts' 'The Codfather' Sentenced To Prison

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