Mississippi Restaurant Fined $1.5M for Seafood Mislabeling Scheme

A prominent Gulf Coast restaurant, Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in Biloxi, Mississippi, and its co-owner, Anthony Charles Cvitanovich, were sentenced for a long-running scheme involving the mislabeling of imported seafood as premium, locally caught fish. The federal investigation revealed that between 2013 and 2019, the restaurant, alongside a Biloxi seafood wholesaler, sold nearly 59,000 pounds of frozen fish from Africa, India, and South America as Gulf Coast seafood, deceiving customers and harming the local seafood industry.

The restaurant will serve five years of probation, pay $1.5 million in penalties, and maintain detailed seafood records for federal and state inspections. Cvitanovich received three years of probation, including four months of home detention, and a $10,000 fine.

In a connected case, Mississippi-based Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc., along with two managers, admitted to similar charges of misbranding and wire fraud. They face sentencing in December, with the company agreeing to pay a $150,000 fine and forfeit $1 million. Authorities emphasize that these actions harm consumers and undermine trust in the Gulf Coast’s seafood reputation.