A restaurant in the U.S. state of Mississippi is facing a class-action lawsuit over selling imported seafood and promoting it as locally caught catch coming from the Gulf of Mexico.
The historic Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant previously faced federal felony charges over the same issue.
Mary Mahoney’s owner, Bobby Mahoney, as well as co-owner Anthony Cvitanovich, pled guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, misbranding seafood, and wire fraud felony charges on 30 May, resulting in fines totaling USD 1.35 million (EUR 1.2 million).
Mahoney’s, founded in 1962, admitted to selling frozen imported fish from Africa, India, and South America and advertising them as locally sourced premium species between December 2013 and November 2019, according to information provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi. Cvitanovich admitted that between 2018 and 2019, he was involved in mislabeling approximately 17,190 pounds of fish sold at the restaurant.
“The scheme involved the fraudulent sale of fish by Mahoney’s and its wholesale supplier that was described on Mahoney’s menu as premium higher-priced local species, such as snapper and grouper from the Gulf of Mexico, when the fish was actually other species from abroad, including Lake Victoria perch from Africa, tripletail from Suriname, and unicorn filefish from India,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Genetic testing of fish by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed the fraudulent scheme, the government said.
The mislabeled seafood was a mistake with a certain dish that has since been fixed, lawyers for Mahoney and Cvitanovich said at the time, according to The SunHerald.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff, Todd McCain from Alabama, alleges he purchased what the restaurant claimed was snapper three times between 2013 and 2018. The complaint alleges the restaurant and Cvitanovich engaged in racketeering in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The suit is asking for damages to be paid to customers who purchased foreign fish at Mary Mahoney’s between January 2012 and November 2019, up to USD 10,000 (EUR 9,114) each.
An unnamed seafood wholesaler, along with its business manager and other executives, are named as co-conspirators in the suit. The complaint also lists several “doe defendants.”
The complaint alleges that the unnamed seafood wholesaler and its business manager and sales manager participated in the scheme by “importing, pricing, and selling the inexpensive foreign fish, knowing full well that they were going to be fraudulently substituted as high-priced premium fresh fish, when co-conspirators Mary Mahoney’s and Cvitanovich participated by mislabeling, marketing, and selling the foreign fish to plaintiff and the class.”
The complaint includes detailed text messages between the wholesaler’s business manager and sales manager and Cvitanovich.
“Still have no triple tail. I’m sending you ...
