Two of Five Co-Defendants Convicted of Embezzling from Trident Seafoods Sentenced to Eight Months and 28 Months in Prison

ANCHORAGE—U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a Kodiak man and a woman from Corpus Christi, Texas, were sentenced for their role in embezzling over half-a-million dollars from Trident Seafoods.

Valerie Olivares, 35 of Corpus Christi, Texas, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline to eight months prison for her role in aiding Isairis Wolfe in embezzling $45,000 from Trident Seafoods.

Jeremy Smith, 31 of Kodiak, Alaska, was also sentenced today by Judge Beistline to 28 months prison for his role in aiding Wolfe in embezzling $128,400 from Trident Seafoods.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Aunnie Steward, who prosecuted the case, from January 2008 and continuing until August 2010, the lead defendant, Isairis Wolfe, used her position as the book keeper for Trident Seafoods in Kodiak, Alaska, to write Trident checks to four of her personal associates: Anne Wilson; Jeremy Smith; Valerie Olivares; and Jamie Fathke. Wolfe, using her check writing authority at Trident, drafted approximately 52 checks on a Trident account for approximately $500,000 and made them payable to her personal associates Wilson, Smith, Olivares, and Fathke, as well as to Wilson’s minor son L.E. The checks were negotiated by Wolfe and her associates, and they shared the proceeds. Wolfe concealed the fraud by creating fraudulent accounting records so that the payments appeared to be legitimate.

During the three-year scheme, Smith negotiated 16 fraudulent checks, taking a break from the scheme only while he was incarcerated on unrelated weapons charges in 2009. Olivares negotiated three fraudulent checks. Smith and Olivares kept half the money from the fraudulent checks and provided the remaining half to Wolfe. The scheme came to an end when Wolfe was fired from Trident Seafoods for performance related reasons and was no longer in a position to write the fraudulent checks. The scheme was not discovered until after Wolfe was fired and a review of the books and records was conducted by Trident.

The leader of the scheme, Isairis Wolfe, is scheduled for sentencing on June 11, 2013. Jamie Fathke was sentenced on January 9, 2013, to four months jail for her role in aiding Wolfe in embezzling $30,000 from Trident Seafoods. Anne Wilson was sentenced on March 21, 2013, to 16 months prison for her role in aiding Wolfe in embezzling $289,000 from Trident Seafoods.

Ms. Loeffler commends the FBI for the investigation of this case.