Mary Mahoney’s Old French House and Manager Sentenced for Conspiracy and Misbranding of Seafood

Gulfport, MS - A Mississippi corporation operating as Mary Mahoney's Old French House restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi, and its co-owner and manager, Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, were sentenced today on charges arising from their participation in a long-standing conspiracy to misbrand seafood by substituting inexpensive imported fish for the local premium species they advertised and declared on their menus.

The court accepted the terms of a plea agreement Mary Mahoney's reached with the government and sentenced the company to five years of probation and ordered it to pay a total penalty of $1,499,000, which included $149,000 as a criminal fine and $1,350,000 in forfeiture for some of the proceeds it had obtained from its fraudulent sales of seafood to its customers. The Court also imposed special conditions of supervision, to include that Mary Mahoney's maintain for no less than five years, records describing the species, sources, and the cost of the seafood it acquires for sale to its customers, and that it make these records available to any federal, state, or local governmental authority that regulates or monitors the service and distribution of food for human consumption and to any such agency that regulates the harvesting, storage, labeling, or sale of seafood. The Court also ordered as a condition of supervision that Mary Mahoney's shall answer truthfully any inquiry from any governmental agency and from any customer as to the species, source, and cost of any seafood it prepares, serves, sells or advertises for sale.

On May 30, 2024, Mary Mahoney's pled guilty to a felony charging the corporation with conspiracy to misbrand seafood and wire fraud in connection with a scheme that began as early as 2002 and continued through November of 2019. Mahoney's, founded in 1962, admitted that between December 2013 and November 2019, the company and its co-conspirators at a Biloxi seafood wholesaler fraudulently sold as local premium species approximately 58,750 pounds (over 29 tons) of fish that was actually frozen and imported from Africa, India, and South America.

Mahoney's co-owner/manager, Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, 55, was sentenced to a term of probation for 3 years, and 4 months of home detention. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.00. On May 30, 2024, Mr. Cvitanovich pled guilty to a felony Information, charging him with misbranding of seafood during 2018 and 2019.

"Misbranding foreign seafood as premium, locally caught fish hurts the Gulf Coast seafood industry and defrauds customers that paid to taste the real thing," said U.S. Attorney Todd Gee. "This investigation and today's sentence will hopefully send a message that the Department of Justice is serious about holding businesses accountable that mislabel food sources."

U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee of the Southern District of Mississippi and Environment and Natural Resources Division Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim made the announcement.

The Food and Drug Administration - Office of Criminal Investigations initiated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea C. Jones and Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy F. Korzenik of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division are prosecuting the case.

In related charges, the Biloxi seafood wholesaler Quality Poultry and Seafood and two of its managers are scheduled for sentencing on Monday, December 11, 2024.