Mississippi seafood distributor pleads guilty to decadeslong fish mislabeling scheme
GULFPORT, Miss. — A Mississippi seafood distributor and two managers pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to mislabel seafood and commit fraud by passing off imported frozen fish as more expensive local varieties, federal authorities said.
Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc., the largest wholesale seafood distributor on Mississippi’s 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 mislabeling seafood.
Tuesday’s developments 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 mislabel seafood and wire fraud. A co-owner/manager of Mary Mahoney’s, Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, also pleaded guilty to mislabeling seafood.
The Justice Department said Tuesday that QPS admitted to participating in the fish substitution program from 2002 through November 2019. An indictment alleged that QPS recommended and sold foreign fish to restaurants as substitutes for local fish that the restaurants advertised on menus. The department said QPS also mislabeled imported products that it sold to customers in its own store and cafe.
“QPS and company officials worked with others to commit fraud for more than a decade, even after they knew they were under federal investigation,” said Todd Kim, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Todd Gee, the U.S. attorney for southern Mississippi, said false marketing of imported fish is lowering the value of the local catch on the Gulf Coast.
“This type of mislabeling fraud harms the local seafood market and robs restaurant customers who paid extra to eat a top quality local product,” Gee said.
The indictment alleged that even after FDA agents executed a search warrant at QPS to investigate the sale of mislabeled fish, the wholesaler continued to sell frozen fish imported from Africa, South America and India as a substitute for local fish for more than a year.
Mary Mahoney’s admitted that between December 2013 and November 2019, it fraudulently sold approximately 58,750 pounds (26,649 kilograms) of fish as local premium species, which were not the species advertised on its menu. QPS supplied seafood to Mary Mahoney’s and other restaurants and retailers.
Sentencing for Mary Mahoney and Cvitanovich is scheduled for Nov. 18, according to court records. Sentencing for QPS, Rosetti and Gunkel is scheduled for Dec. 11.