Biloxi Restaurant Sentenced for Seafood Mislabeling Fraud

Mary Mahoney’s Old French House, a renowned restaurant in Biloxi, Mississippi, and its co-owner Anthony Cvitanovich were sentenced for mislabeling imported seafood as Gulf fresh. The restaurant was fined $149,000, placed on five years of probation, and ordered to forfeit $1.35 million in fraudulent proceeds. Cvitanovich received a sentence of four months home confinement and three years probation, along with a $10,000 fine. The fraudulent activities, which involved selling imported fish as local premium species, began as early as 2002 and continued through 2019. Both the restaurant and Cvitanovich pleaded guilty to the charges in May, and the illegal activity first came to light in 2019 during an FDA investigation. The case has significantly impacted the Gulf Coast seafood industry, defrauding customers and undermining genuine local seafood producers.