Montauk Captain Catches 30-Month Prison Sentence for Fish Fraud

A commercial fishing boat captain from Montauk was sentenced July 11 to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for conspiring to sell more than 200,000 pounds of fish over the federal quota and trying to cover it up with false documentation.

A jury had found Christopher Winkler, 63, guilty in October at Central Islip federal court of federal criminal conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. Three members of the family that runs the Gosman’s Fish Market in Montauk previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with Winkler and testified against him at trial.

Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York have said Winkler, the captain of the boat New Age, went on at least 200 fishing trips in which he caught more fluke or black sea bass than allowed by federal quotas between 2014 and 2017. He then allegedly sold the fish to a now-defunct company in the New Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx. The excess fish was valued at about $750,000, according to investigators.

The Gosmans had an ownership interest in the defunct company and after it went under, Winkler sold a smaller quantity of his allegedly illegal catch directly to Bob Gosman Co. Inc., of which Asa and Bryan Gosman were managers, prosecutors said.

Upwards of 15,000 pounds of fish daily pass through the Gosman family’s wholesale fish market, which is the biggest operation in the heart of New York State’s largest commercial fishing port.

The Gosmans will be sentenced at a later date. Winkler’s attorney may appeal the conviction.