United States v. Mary Mahoney’s Old French House, et al.

On November 18, 2024, a court sentenced Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant (Mahoney’s) to pay a $149,000 fine and $1,350,000 in forfeiture for proceeds it had obtained from its fraudulent seafood sales to its customers. The company also will complete a five-year term of probation with the following special condition: The company must maintain records, for no less than five years, describing the species, sources, and the cost of the seafood it acquires for sale to its customers, and must make these records available to any federal, state, or local governmental authority that regulates food for human consumption and/or the harvesting, storage, labeling, or sale of seafood. Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, restaurant co-owner and manager, will pay a $10,000 fine and complete a three-year term of probation to include four months’ home detention.

Mahoney’s pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misbrand seafood and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 1343; 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(k), 333(a)(2)). Cvitanovich pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood (21 U.S.C. §§ 331(k), 333(a)(2)).

Between December 2013 and November 2019, Mahoney and co-conspirators fraudulently sold approximately 58,750 pounds (more than 29 tons) of fish that was frozen and imported from Africa, India, and South America as local premium species. Between 2018 and 2019, Cvitanovich mislabeled approximately 17,190 pounds of fish sold at the restaurant.

The defendants and a wholesale supplier described fish on Mahoney’s menu as a premium higher priced local species, such as snapper and grouper from the Gulf of Mexico. However, an investigation including genetic testing determined that the fish was of foreign origin, including Lake Victoria perch from Africa, tripletail from Suriname, and unicorn filefish from India.