U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee | U.S. Department of Justice
A Mississippi corporation, Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant in Biloxi, and its co-owner and manager, Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, have been sentenced following charges related to a conspiracy to misbrand seafood. The charges involved substituting less expensive imported fish for the premium local species advertised on their menus.
The court approved a plea agreement with Mary Mahoney’s, sentencing the company to five years of probation. The restaurant was also ordered to pay $1,499,000 as a total penalty. This includes a criminal fine of $149,000 and forfeiture of $1,350,000 from proceeds obtained through fraudulent seafood sales. Special conditions were imposed requiring the maintenance of records detailing the species, sources, and costs of seafood acquired for sale over five years. These records must be available to federal, state, or local authorities regulating food service and distribution.
Mary Mahoney’s admitted guilt on May 30, 2024, to charges of conspiracy to misbrand seafood and wire fraud in connection with activities that spanned from 2002 through November 2019. Between December 2013 and November 2019 alone, they fraudulently sold approximately 58,750 pounds of imported fish as local premium species.
Anthony Charles Cvitanovich received three years probation with four months under home detention. He is also required to pay a $10,000 fine after pleading guilty on May 30 to misbranding seafood during 2018 and 2019.
U.S. Attorney Todd Gee stated: “Misbranding foreign seafood as premium locally caught fish hurts the Gulf Coast seafood industry and defrauds customers that paid to taste the real thing.” He emphasized that this investigation aims to show how serious the Department of Justice is about holding businesses accountable for mislabeling food sources.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee from the Southern District of Mississippi alongside Environment and Natural Resources Division Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim.
The case was initiated by the Food and Drug Administration - Office of Criminal Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea C. Jones along with Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy F. Korzenik from the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.
In related proceedings scheduled for December 11, Quality Poultry and Seafood—a Biloxi wholesaler—and two managers face sentencing on similar charges.
