A man from Portland, Maine pleaded guilty earlier this week to illegally trafficking in rare and valuable elvers, or baby eels.
Yarann Im, 34, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to USD 100,000 (EUR 90,000), after entering the guilty plea on Tuesday, 4 October in U.S. District Court in Portland, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Im is the owner of Maine Eel Co. LLC, which he founded in 2012. His business was engaged in the purchase and export of American eels to Asia, where they fetch as much as USD 2,000 (EUR 1,800) per pound. Court documents show that Im purchased and then sold about 480 pounds of elvers caught illegally between 2013 and 2014, the newspaper reported.
Im purchased the illegal elvers from an undercover officer from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), even though he was aware the elvers had been taken illegally in Virginia, North Carolina and Massachusetts. Im then sold the elvers to importers in Hong Kong and British Columbia, Canada, court documents alleged.
Im also obtained a license to harvest eels from Florida in an effort to conceal the origins of the elvers he purchased, the prosecution said in court documents.
