Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Slade Gorton is being sued by a Chinese exporter of seafood over an alleged breach of contract related to nonpayment for a shipment of tilapia, which Slade Gorton claims it paid for.
According to the 28 September filing in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, Maoming Hongye has worked with Slade Gorton for roughly three years, exporting a range of different seafood products. Maoming Hongye Aquatic Products Co. filed the lawsuit on 28 September against Slade Gorton, alleging the company received and accepted five shipping containers containing 126 metric tons (MT) of tilapia in 2024, and agreed to pay USD 495,920 (EUR 424,170), but never sent the payment to the indicated bank accounts.
“Maoming Hongye never received payment from Slade Gorton for the 5 container loads of frozen Tilapia that it received and accepted,” the lawsuit states. “The bank accounts indicated in Maoming Hongye’s payment instructions in its commercial invoices to Slade Gorton never received any funds from Slade Gorton for those shipments.”
The lawsuit alleges Maoming Hongye demanded payment after not receiving it, and that Slade Gorton responded and said it had already made the payments. According to the filing, Slade Gorton said it sent payment to a specific bank account in response to email communications from Maoming Hongye.
However Maoming Hongye claims it never sent those communications, and that the bank account Slade Gorton mentioned was not listed on its commercial invoices and are “not affiliated or connected in any way with Maoming Hongye.”
“Hongye never sent any such email communications to Slade Gorton deviating from the banking instructions contained in Maoming Hongye’s commercial invoices for the five containers,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also describes documents that Slade Gorton provided to Maoming Hongye to confirm its payment – including a wire transfer confirmation from M&T Bank to a Maoming Hongye account – but Maoming Hongye said it never received that money and that it “has reason to believe that the confirmation and email communication from Slade Gorton containing it are fraudulent.”
“Slade Gorton also claimed to have made payments for the 5 containers to a bank account located in Indonesia in the name of a different company. Maoming Hongye never received any of these funds,” the lawsuit states.
Maoming Hongye said in the lawsuit this is the first time there has been any allegations of fraudulent payment instructions from its customers.
“Maoming Hongye maintains robust cybersecurity procedures and security and has written cybersecurity procedures that prevent fraudulent activity,” it said. “Its systems are maintained regularly in accordance with its cybersecurity and security procedures.”
Slade Gorton and its parent company Cooke declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by SeafoodSource.
