Lobster pirate faces jail

A US district judge has ordered an 81-year-old South African, who has been described as a “modern-day pirate”, to forfeit a whopping $37 200 838 (R483 million).

From 1987 until 2001, fishing magnate Arnold Bengis, his son David and their co-conspirators harvested illegally large quantities of south and west coast rock lobster, to export from South Africa to the US.

On Wednesday in New York, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Bengis to a prison term in the US of 57 months. Judge Kaplan ordered an immediate arrest warrant for Bengis, who lives in Israel.

On July 12, representatives of the South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, appeared before the court to argue and convince the court “to order forfeiture of proceeds that he acquired as a result of poaching west coast rock lobster from South African waters and illegally exporting that rock lobster to the US in violation of both US and South African law”.

Bengis has financed a school of entrepreneurship at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. – Sheree Bega