The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed an indictment accusing multiple individuals at five different seafood companies of price-fixing and antitrust actions.
The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleges Dennis Dopico, the vice president of unnamed “Company 1” with headquarters in Miami, Florida, and co-conspirators at four other unnamed companies joined in a price-fixing conspiracy against fishermen harvesting stone crab and spiny lobsters in Florida.
“From at least in or around July 2023 through at least in or around April 2025, in the Southern District of Florida and elsewhere, the defendant, Dennis Dopico, knowingly joined and participated in a conspiracy with other persons and entities, known and unknown to the United States, to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing the prices paid to fishermen for stone crab claws and spiny lobsters harvested in Florida,” the filing states.
The DOJ filing claims Dopico and four other individuals at the other companies entered into an agreement to “depress, fix, stabilize, and maintain prices” that each would pay to fishermen in the region for their harvest of stone crab claws and spiny lobsters between the periods of July 2023 through at least April 2025.
According to the DOJ filing, Dopico and four other unnamed individuals participated in meetings and communicated about prices to be paid to fishermen who landed their catch in various Florida locations. The DOJ is accusing Dopico and the four individuals of agreeing on prices to be paid to the fishermen and that the co-conspirators confirmed with one another and paid fishermen non-competitive amounts.
The lawsuit also states Dopico communicated with an “Individual 2” on 28 September 2023 and revealed what they were paying for spiny lobster while also telling them not to show the text to anyone. Individual 2 responded in kind, saying "I give you my word. We're working together now[,] not against each other[.]"
Then, on 13 October 2023, Individual 2 messaged Dopico the prices their company was paying for stone crab, and Dopico responded, "[l]et me know what you do. I am matching your prices. It's the one we like the most[.]"
The DOJ said Dopico and the co-conspirators sold and shipped the stone crab claws and spiny lobster products to customers located in other U.S. states, as well as international buyers.
“Such shipments by DOPICO and his co-conspirators, as well as payments received for them, traveled in interstate trade and commerce – all in violation of Title 15, United States Code, Section 1,” the DOJ filing said. “
According to LinkedIn, a Dennis Dopico served as the vice president of D&D Seafood Co., a Winter Haven, Florida-based seafood company; however, the company was not named in the indictment and its website is currently unavailable.
No other names of individuals or companies were named in the indictment, but it states Individual 2 was president and owner of Company 2, Individual 3 was manager of purchasing for Company 3, Individual 4 was formerly the manager of purchasing for Company 4, and Individual 5 was the manager of purchasing for Company 5. Every company mentioned in the indictment was organized under the laws of Florida.
This isn’t the first time the DOJ has targeted seafood firms for alleged price-fixing. Former Bumble Bee CEO Chris Lischewski was indicted in price-fixing charges in 2018 and later sentenced to 40 months in prison over his role in a conspiracy to fix the prices of canned tuna sold in the U.S.
At the time, Lischewski – in an interview with SeafoodSource – warned that the DOJ was targeting U.S. companies for price-fixing and that seafood companies need to have strict compliance management processes to avoid issues.
“The key message that I would leave, a message targeted to CEOs and senior executives, is that companies must implement strict compliance management processes that include training, monitoring, and enforcement,” Lischewski said at the time.
