01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 24, 2011

By Tracy Breton

Journal Staff Writer

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday sentenced Robert G. Coutu, the former owner of Ocean Fresh Seafood, in North Attleboro, to serve 5 years in prison for masterminding and executing a multimillion-dollar bank-fraud scheme.

The sentence, imposed by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner, also requires Coutu, 59, formerly of Cumberland, to make $6,582,165.91 in restitution to Wells Fargo Bank and, based on money laundering statutes, to forfeit $2,305,850.

Upon release, he’ll be on 3 years’ supervised probation.

Prosecutors urged the judge to impose a sentence of 136 months — in the mid-range of the sentencing guidelines — as a result of his guilty plea to a 17-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and money laundering. But Gertner, in imposing a 60-month sentence, went way below the guidelines — which are merely advisory — in punishing Coutu.

Defense lawyer James E. Felman, of Tampa, Fla., said after the sentencing that based on testimony and evidence adduced, the judge was convinced that Coutu did not run the scam as “some sort of Ponzi scheme; and that Ocean Fresh was a legitimate business run legally and lawfully for over 25 years” before Coutu engaged in his fraudulent activity.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, February 23, 2011

By Tracy Breton

Journal Staff Writer

A federal judge in Boston began a sentencing hearing Tuesday afternoon for Robert G. Coutu, the owner of the now-closed Ocean Fresh Seafood, in North Attleboro, Mass., who pleaded guilty to orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud on Wells Fargo Business Credit.

The hearing did not wrap up by the end of the day. The judge, Nancy Gertner, is scheduled to resume the hearing in U.S. District Court at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

The court heard testimony from Vincent Clark, a licensed private detective and former special agent with the criminal investigation division of the IRS who, according to court papers, was hired by the defense to try to decipher how much Coutu deposited of his personal funds to help reduce his Wells Fargo credit line balance and how much he pocketed from the fraud he committed on the bank.

Coutu, 59, formerly of Cumberland, has been held without bail for the last 34 months and has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in what prosecutors describe as a $10-million fraud perpetrated on Wells Fargo, which has lost $6.5 million as a result of Coutu’s criminal acts.

Coutu is seeking to be released immediately with a sentence of time served. Prosecutors, meanwhile, are seeking a sentence of 136 months and are asking Gertner to order Coutu — who says he’s now indigent — to make $6,582,165.91 in restitution and also to pay $2,305,850 in asset forfeiture.

Coutu’s Ocean Fresh was a once-booming wholesale and retail operation that had a satellite branch in Miami. At its peak, it employed 60 people and had gross revenues of $60 million. Wells Fargo discovered the fraud, which allegedly went on for five years, in September 2007.

From projo.com
http://www.projo.com/news/courts/content/COUTU_SENTENCING_02-23-11_S9MKV34_v10.193ff09.html

01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, February 22, 2011

By Tracy Breton

Journal Staff Writer

Over a quarter of a century, Robert G. Coutu built an international seafood business from what was once a tiny fish store owned by his maternal uncle on Route 1 in North Attleboro. When catches in the North Atlantic began to dwindle in the 1980s, he began to import from foreign countries, beginning with Canada and Iceland. When the Canadian government cut fishing quotas in the late 1990s, he branched out to Ecuador and Peru.

He opened a satellite branch in Miami and from there and his Massachusetts location — which also had a retail store — he began selling fish worldwide.

When Coutu, his brother and father started Ocean Fresh Seafood in 1976, they were the only employees. By 1996, the business had more than 60 employees, annual gross revenues of $60 million and had been chosen by the government of Peru to underwrite the cost of a fishing and research vessel to serve as a classroom for university students.

But now Ocean Fresh is out of business and Coutu, 59, a former Cumberland resident, is facing up to 30 years in prison for a multi-million-dollar bank fraud scam that reads like something out of a novel. The thrice-married Pawtucket high school graduate has been incarcerated for the past 34 months in the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. He’s facing sentencing Tuesday in federal court, Boston. Prosecutors say he should go to prison for eight more years.

BOSTON - The former owner of Ocean Fresh Seafood Inc. pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Wednesday to defrauding a division of Wells Fargo Bank NA of at least $7 million in a complicated business scheme.

Robert Coutu, 59, of Cumberland, R.I., entered the guilty plea Wednesday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

Coutu was the owner of North Attleboro-based Ocean Fresh Seafood, which sold wholesale and retail seafood products. Prosecutors said Coutu falsely inflated the value of his business dealings using fake invoices and phony money transactions to allow him to borrow millions of dollars more than his actual business volume would have permitted.

Boston Business Journal - by Tim McLaughlin

The owner of Ocean Fresh Seafood Inc. of North Attleboro was convicted in federal court Wednesday of defrauding Wells Fargo Bank of at least $7 million.

Robert Coutu, 59, of Cumberland, R.I., pleaded guilty to bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering. His sentencing date is Jan. 19.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said Ocean Fresh executives falsely inflated the company’s receivables and inventory balances to secure a credt line from Wells Fargo.

Ocean Fresh’s former controllers Christopher Day and Cynthia Larose have been indicted on allegations of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Larose has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Day is awaiting trial, Ortiz said in a news release.


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OWNER OF NORTH ATTLEBORO SEAFOOD DEALER CHARGED WITH $7 MILLION BANK FRAUD

BOSTON, MA - The owner and former controller of Ocean Fresh Seafood, Inc. were charged today with engaging in a scheme to defraud Wells Fargo Business Credit, Inc., a division of Wells Fargo Bank NA, of at least $7 million.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – New England Field Division, and Tyrone G. Barney, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service , Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office announced that ROBERT COUTU, age 53, of 500 Mendon Road, Cumberland, Rhode Island, was charged in a 17 count Indictment with conspiracy, bank fraud, and money laundering. CYNTHIA LAROSE, age 40, of 87 Allenson Avenue, South Attleboro, Massachusetts, was charged in the same Indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

BOSTON - The owner of a former North Attleboro seafood business and a key aide were both indicted Wednesday on federal bank fraud charges for their role in an alleged scheme to bilk Wells Fargo Bank of more than $7 million.

Robert G. Coutu, 53, of 500 Mendon Road in Cumberland, R.I., the former president and sole stockholder of Ocean Fresh Seafood, was charged in a 17-count indictment with conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering.

Cynthia Larose, 40, of 87 Allenson Ave. in South Attleboro, was charged in the same indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Coutu disappeared last September after bank auditors found large discrepancies in receivables and sales reports, then took over the seafood distribution and retail sales business. Dozens of people were thrown out of work.

Former owner of Ocean Fresh arrested in Costa Rica
Man accused of trying to bilk bank out of $7M while owning North seafood company

NORTH ATTLEBORO - Robert G. Coutu, former owner of a North Attleboro seafood wholesale company and the alleged architect of a scheme to bilk Wells Fargo of up to $7 million, is in federal custody in Florida on charges of bank fraud and money laundering following a lengthy sojourn in Latin America.

Coutu was arrested last month in Costa Rica after attempting to enter the Central American country on a Panamanian passport, according to an FBI affadavit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston.


The businessman vanished last September after an audit led to the discovery of millions of dollars in irregularities in Ocean Fresh Seafood inventory and sales records.


Customers are shown outside the former Ocean Fresh Seafood in North Attleboro last fall as they tried to redeem gift certificates. (Sun Chronicle file photo)

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05/22/08 | Posted by admin | Category General

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NORTH ATTLEBORO - If you've been missing your weekly fresh fish fix since the demise of Ocean Fresh Seafood, worry no longer - Fresh Catch will be opening up a new retail store in the same location.

Fresh Catch Restaurant owner Bill Sarro Jr. will open a retail shop called the Fresh Catch Seafood and Butcher Shop at North Plaza on Route 1. The shop, which will be open seven days a week, will officially open for business today.
"We'll have a full service meat and deli shop with lobsters, seafood and other items, including a salad section. It's going to have a little bit of everything."

The beleaguered store, which has been open for weeks selling off inventory after a bank takeover, has been closed this week - with its counters empty and lights turned off.
The apparent shutdown comes a week after representatives from Ocean Fresh failed to attend an eviction hearing in Attleboro District Court. Because no one appeared to represent Ocean Fresh, the company was considered in default and the eviction was granted.

The complaint filed by the landlord, Compass Realty/Attleboro, alleges Ocean Fresh Seafood owes $39,079 in back rent for the seafood store.

NORTH ATTLEBORO - The landlord has filed a court complaint seeking to evict Ocean Fresh Seafood, alleging its owner owes at least $53,140 in back rent.

A hearing is scheduled Oct. 11 in Attleboro District Court.
The complaint filed by the landlord, Compass Realty/Attleboro LLC, alleges Ocean Fresh Seafood Inc., owes $39,079 in back rent for the seafood store.

The landlord also alleges Ocean Fresh Seafood of North Attleboro Inc. owes $14,059 for its corporate office next door to the fish market.

NORTH ATTLEBORO - When Dennis Rivard heard that Ocean Fresh Seafood had been seized by its bank and might be closing, he rushed to the store to redeem three gift certificates totaling about $50.

But Rivard and others who arrived at Ocean Fresh Thursday morning were dismayed to learn the business would not accept the certificates - at least for 72 hours - while the operators attempt to determine which gifts are legitimate.

NORTH ATTLEBORO - A picture is emerging that Ocean Fresh Seafood might have been a house of cards long before it apparently collapsed late last week.

While troubles at the North Attleboro company were relatively unknown to the public until recently, the firm and its owners were known to the seafood industry as potentially shaky credit risks, according to ratings by Seafax, the maritime industry's credit reporting service.

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