A popular Mississippi Gulf Coast restaurant and its co-owner have been punished by the federal government for fraudulent branding of seafood and wire fraud.
Mary Mahoney’s Old French House and co-owner Anthony Cvitanovich were sentenced on Monday for importing approximately 58,750 pounds of frozen foreign fish species that were sold as local premium species between December 2013 and November 2019.
Cvitanovish pled guilty back in May to felony misinformation in the misbranding of seafood in 2018 and 2019. He admitted that he was involved in intentionally mislabeling more than 17,000 pounds of fish sold at the restaurant. Mary Mahoney’s menu described premium, higher-priced local fish, such as snapper and grouper from the Gulf of Mexico. But in reality, the fish were imported from abroad, including Lake Victoria Perch from Africa and Unicorn Filefish from India.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi accepted the terms of a plea agreement Mary Mahoney’s reached with the government and sentenced the company to five years of probation and ordered it to pay a total penalty of $1,499,000, which included $149,000 as a criminal fine and $1,350,000 in forfeiture for some of the proceeds it had obtained from its fraudulent sales of seafood to its customers.
In addition, the Biloxi eatery must maintain detailed records describing the species, sources, and the cost of the seafood it acquires for sale to its customers for at least five years. These records are legally required to be made available to any federal, state, or local governmental authority that regulates or monitors the service and distribution of food for human consumption and to any such agency that regulates the harvesting, storage, labeling, or sale of seafood.
Mary Mahoney’s is obligated to comply with any inquiry from any governmental agency and from any customer as to the species, source, and cost of any seafood it prepares, serves, sells, or advertises for sale.
Cvitanovich was sentenced to three years of probation and four months of home detention. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
“Misbranding foreign seafood as premium, locally caught fish hurts the Gulf Coast seafood industry and defrauds customers that paid to taste the real thing,” said U.S. Attorney Todd Gee. “This investigation and today’s sentence will hopefully send a message that the Department of Justice is serious about holding businesses accountable that mislabel food sources.”
The Food and Drug Administration – Office of Criminal Investigations initiated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea C. Jones and Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy F. Korzenik of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division are prosecuting the case.
In related charges, the Biloxi seafood wholesaler Quality Poultry and Seafood and two of its managers are scheduled for sentencing on Monday, December 11.
