Point Lookout, NY fish company, executives admit to fraud in fluke purchases
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Newsday]By Andrew Smith - July 17, 2014 -
A Point Lookout fish company and two top officials pleaded guilty Wednesday to fraudulently underreporting fluke they purchased that had been caught as part of a federal research program, authorities said.
Jones Inlet Seafood Co., its president, Michael Mihale, 46, of Oceanside, and vice president Bruce Larson Jr., 35, of Freeport admitted to felonies for falsifying federal records and using false documents in connection with $100,000 worth of fluke shipped to customers in Connecticut and New Jersey.
The plea deal is part of a two-year investigation into a program that auctions off fish caught in a NOAA research program. The program allows fishers to pay thousands of dollars to be allowed to harvest fish above legal limits. The plea deal calls for Mihale, Larson and their company to pay between $222,000 and $276,000 in fines and restitution,
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