Lead photo courtesy of QPS’ website.

A Mississippi seafood distributor and two managers pleaded guilty on Aug. 27 to conspiring to mislabel seafood and commit wire fraud in a conspiracy spanning 20 years, reported the U.S. Department of Justice.

Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc. (QPS) — the largest seafood wholesaler in the Mississippi Gulf Coast — marketed frozen imported fish as more expensive and local species.

QPS agreed to pay the U.S. $1 million in forfeitures and a $150,000 criminal fine.

The company’s sales manager Todd A. Rosetti and business manager James W. Gunkel — both from Ocean Springs, MS — pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood labels.

“QPS and company officials went to great lengths in conspiring with others to perpetuate fraud for more than a decade, even after they knew they were under federal investigation,” Justice Department Environment and Natural Resources Division Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim said in the Aug. 27 news release.

According to the Justice Department, QPS confessed to participating in the fish substitution plot from 2002 through Nov. 2019. The indictment alleged that the company recommended and sold foreign-sourced fish to its customers that could serve as substitutes for the local species advertised in its café and retail shop as premium seafood.

“This kind of mislabeling fraud hurts the overall local seafood market and rips off restaurant customers who were paying extra to eat a premium local product,” Southern District of Mississippi U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee said. “These convictions should serve as a warning: restaurants and wholesalers will face criminal prosecution if they are not honest with customers about what they are actually buying.”

In a related case to the developments reported on Aug. 27, Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in Biloxi pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to misbrand seafood and wire fraud.

The restaurant admitted that from Dec. 2013 to Nov. 2019 it sold fish as local premium species — approximately 58,750 pounds — that were not the types identified on its menu. The restaurant and Anthony Cvitanovich pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood.

QPS provided seafood to Mary Mahoney’s and other restaurants and retailers.

QPS, Rosetti and Gunkel will be sentenced on Dec. 11, according to the Justice Department. Mary Mahoney’s and Cvitanovich will be sentenced on Nov. 18.