Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based seafood wholesaling firm Quality Poultry & Seafood (QPS), as well as two of its executives, was sentenced in district court on 11 December in connection to a federal seafood mislabeling case.
Mary Mahoney’s Old French House, a seafood restaurant in Biloxi, admitted to selling frozen imported fish supplied by QPS that it falsely advertised on its menu as locally sourced premium species between December 2013 and November 2019.
At its sentencing in November, the restaurant was put on probation and issued a USD 149,000 (EUR 142,000) fine. Mary Mahoney’s Co-Owner Anthony Cvitanovich was sentenced to four months of home confinement and three years probation and ordered to pay a USD 10,000 (EUR 9,500) fine.
At the 11 December QPS sentencing, Judge Sul Ozerden of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi placed the wholesaler on five years probation and fined it USD 500,000 (EUR 476,000). The firm must also forfeit USD 1 million (EUR 952,600) to the U.S. Marshal Service and pay a USD 400 (EUR 381) special assessment fine.
QPS Sales Manager Todd Rosetti, whom Ozerden called “the ultimate authority in this scheme,” will serve eight months in prison, one year of supervised release, and six months of home detention. He will also pay a USD 1,000 (EUR 953) fine.
QPS CFO James Gunkel was sentenced to ...
