Current:Home > StocksMississippi seafood distributor pleads guilty to decadeslong fish mislabeling scheme-InfoLens
Mississippi seafood distributor pleads guilty to decadeslong fish mislabeling scheme
View Date:2024-12-23 11:10:21
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi seafood distributor and two managers pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to mislabel seafood and commit wire fraud by marketing frozen imported fish as more expensive local species, federal authorities said.
Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc., the largest seafood wholesaler on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, agreed to forfeit $1 million and pay a $150,000 fine, the Justice Department said. The company’s sales manager Todd A. Rosetti and business manager James W. Gunkel, both of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, also pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood.
The developments Tuesday are the latest in a case tied to a well known Mississippi Gulf Coast restaurant, Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in Biloxi.
In May, the restaurant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misbrand seafood and wire fraud. A co-owner/manager of Mary Mahoney’s, Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, also pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that QPS admitted participating in the fish substitution scheme from 2002 through November 2019. An indictment alleged QPS recommended and sold foreign-sourced fish to restaurants as substitutes for local fish that restaurants advertised on menus. The department said QPS also mislabeled imports that it sold to customers at its own retail shop and café.
“QPS and company officials went to great lengths in conspiring with others to perpetuate fraud for more than a decade, even after they knew they were under federal investigation,” said Todd Kim, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Todd Gee, the U.S. attorney for southern Mississippi, said falsely marketing imported fish depresses the value of the local catch on the Gulf Coast.
“This kind of mislabeling fraud hurts the overall local seafood market and rips off restaurant customers who were paying extra to eat a premium local product,” Gee said.
The indictment alleged that even after FDA agents executed a criminal search warrant at QPS to investigate the sale of mislabeled fish, the wholesaler continued for more than a year to sell frozen fish imported from Africa, South America and India as substitutes for local fish.
Mary Mahoney’s admitted that between December 2013 and November 2019, it fraudulently sold, as local premium species, about 58,750 pounds (26,649 kilograms) of fish that were not the types identified on its menu. QPS supplied seafood to Mary Mahoney’s and other restaurant restaurants and retailers.
Sentencing for Mary Mahoney’s and Cvitanovich is set for Nov. 18, according to court records. Sentencing for QPS, Rosetti and Gunkel is set for Dec. 11.
veryGood! (21)
Related
- What Happened to Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Character? John Dutton’s Fate Revealed
- Coming out about my bipolar disorder has led to a new deep sense of community
- Check Out the Most Surprising Celeb Transformations of the Week
- These $9 Kentucky Derby Glasses Sell Out Every Year, Get Yours Now While You Can
- Oklahoma school district adding anti-harassment policies after nonbinary teen’s death
- Brain cells in a lab dish learn to play Pong — and offer a window onto intelligence
- Today’s Climate: July 5, 2010
- New Federal Rules Target Methane Leaks, Flaring and Venting
- The 10 Best Cashmere Sweaters and Tops That Feel Luxuriously Soft and Are *Most Importantly* Affordable
- 24 Mother’s Day Gifts From Amazon That Look Way More Expensive Than They Actually Are
Ranking
- World leaders aim to shape Earth's future at COP29 climate change summit
- Barnard College will offer abortion pills for students
- Artificial intelligence could soon diagnose illness based on the sound of your voice
- $80,000 and 5 ER visits: An ectopic pregnancy takes a toll
- The Daily Money: Markets react to Election 2024
- Scripps Howard Awards Recognizes InsideClimate News for National Reporting on a Divided America
- Check Out the Most Surprising Celeb Transformations of the Week
- Inside the Love Lives of The Summer I Turned Pretty Stars
Recommendation
-
Georgia lawmaker proposes new gun safety policies after school shooting
-
How Life Will Change for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis After the Coronation
-
House GOP rules vote on gas stoves goes up in flames
-
The FDA has officially declared a shortage of Adderall
-
Man jailed after Tuskegee University shooting says he fired his gun, but denies shooting at anyone
-
Conservatives' standoff with McCarthy brings House to a halt for second day
-
John Hickenlooper on Climate Change: Where the Candidate Stands
-
One of Kenya's luckier farmers tells why so many farmers there are out of luck