FBI raids Global Fishing

FBI and federal fisheries agents on Wednesday searched the Bellevue office of Global Fishing, whose founder Arkadi Gontmakher is currently detained in Moscow and charged by the Russian government with trafficking in black-market king crab.

The FBI and officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed the search was part of a pending federal investigation into Global Fishing, which in 2006 and 2007 was the largest importer of Russian king crab with sales of $148 million.

Documents detailing the investigation are filed in federal court under seal, according to Brian Gorman, a spokesman for NOAA Fisheries.

Wednesday's search is the latest development in the unusual legal saga of Gontmakher, whose case has attracted international attention. He is a Ukrainian-born U.S. citizen who has been detained in Moscow since last September.

Gontmakher is accused by the Russian government of money-laundering and participating in a massive poaching operation that violated Russian fishery-conservation law by illegally catching and then exporting more than 50 million pounds of king crab in 2006 and 2007.

In a Moscow court appearance earlier this month, Gontmakher said he was innocent and that he believed all the crab he'd purchased in Russia was legally caught, according to Seafood.com News, an industry newsletter that has tracked Gontmakher's legal troubles.

At that hearing, Gontmakher was ordered detained at least until Nov. 29, and it is unclear whether there would be another hearing or trial at that date.

Despite Gontmakher's arrest, Global Fishing has continued to operate out of its Bellevue office, according to a company spokesman who declined further comment.

In 2006 and 2007, Gontmakher's massive imports of Russian king crab were marketed in grocery stores across the United States and helped drive down the price for U.S. consumers.

But the imports drew complaints from Alaska king-crab fishermen, who suspected that the imports were based upon illegal harvests of Russian Far East stocks.

Based on those complaints, U.S. fishery-enforcement officials began their own investigation of Russian king-crab imports. That effort was already under way when Gontmakher was detained in Moscow.

Under the Lacey Act, the U.S. government has the power to pursue civil or criminal penalties or even seize seafood imports if there is documentation they were illegally caught.

"We are working with our counterparts in Russia in a cooperative effort and with other U.S. agencies," said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for the law-enforcement agency of NOAA, in an interview last November.

It is unclear, however, whether the Wednesday search reflected a cooperative effort with the Russian government, or a separate U.S. investigation by the FBI and fisheries agents.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com