To support his family, he worked as an auctioneer, an appraiser of art, and a real-estate investor.
But critics wanted an appraiser of international repute.
Cooley was appointed as an appraiser of property and slaves for Union Bank of Florida.
His father, also retired, was a senior appraiser of multifamily buildings in the New York City area for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and is now an independent appraiser.
Cooley, already in charge of overseeing wrecking, received a territorial appointment as appraiser of the sunk vessels and their cargoes.
As an accredited appraiser, Fishman is brought in as an objective, neutral party, sharing status akin to an expert witness.
Independent appraisers, not matched by clinical speciality or place of work, were considered to take a more objective view of a responsible officer's practice by providing an 'outsider perspective'.
Joseph C. Magdziarz, president of the Appraisal Institute and an appraiser outside of Chicago, defended his industry's work but said many appraisers were now pressed to write their reports more quickly and for less money.
"It's about keeping up with the Joneses, but not exceeding them by too much," says Alan Hummel, chief appraiser of Minneapolis-based Forsythe Appraisals and former president of the Appraisal Institute, a membership organization of professional real estate appraisers.
Ten of his co-conspirators — including a lawyer, an appraiser and a mortgage loan processor — have pleaded guilty.
