Mary Mahoney’s Lawsuit Says Restaurant Defrauded Customers By Selling Nearly 30 Tons of Frozen Foreign Fish

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Biloxi, Mississippi restaurant Mary Mahoney’s Old French House has criminally defrauded thousands of consumers by mislabeling, marketing and selling nearly 59,000 pounds of inexpensive frozen foreign fish as fresh seafood caught locally in the Mississippi Gulf.

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The 29-page false advertising lawsuit claims that Mary Mahoney’s customers have not been sold red snapper, redfish and other “high-priced premium fish” as advertised, but instead more than 29 tons of “inexpensive frozen foreign fish,” including perch from Africa, tripletail from South America and unicorn filefish from India. The complaint argues these species of fish would not have been marketable to the public, or would have been substantially less profitable, had their actual species and origin been disclosed.

The proposed class action against Mary Mahoney’s was filed on August 2, a little more than two months after United States Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Todd W. Gee announced criminal charges and guilty pleas related to the mislabeling of food and defrauding of consumers.

Mary Mahoney’s, a restaurant “widely known” for its fresh local fish, pleaded guilty on May 30, 2024 to conspiracy to misbrand seafood and wire fraud, and the restaurant’s co-owner and manager, defendant Anthony C. Cvitanovich, also pleaded guilty to misbranding seafood. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi alleged in April that the parties began a seafood fraud scheme as early as 2002 and continued through November 2019.

The Mary Mahoney’s class action lawsuit similarly alleges the restaurant ran a criminal scheme and conspiracy to defraud consumers by knowingly importing, mislabeling, marketing and selling cheap frozen fish sourced from foreign countries, and not the waters of the Mississippi Gulf.

In 2019 alone, the filing says, the named and unnamed defendants dealt in thousands of pounds of perch from Africa, tripletail from South America and unicorn filefish from India. The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated that Cvitanovich admitted that, between 2018 and 2019 alone, he was involved in mislabeling roughly 17,190 pounds of fish sold at the restaurant.

To carry out the alleged scheme, the complaint says, the restaurant, Cvitanovich, a yet-to-be-identified seafood wholesaler and its business manager and sales manager unlawfully agreed to import inexpensive foreign fish and sell it as high-priced premium fresh fish to customers. The suit alleges the defendants went to great lengths to conceal the scheme, including when questioned by federal agents during a search of the seafood wholesaler’s facility.

“From an organizational standpoint, Defendants each played a distinct and indispensable role in the scheme and conspiracy. The Foreign Fish were imported through the Seafood Wholesaler, purchased and priced by the Business Manager, and sold by the Sales Manager to their co-conspirators, Mary Mahoney’s and Cvitanovich. These Defendants were able to purchase, import, price, and sell the Foreign Fish only because they knew their co-conspirators, Mary Mahoney’s and Cvitanovich, would then willfully mislabel, market, and sell the Foreign Fish to Plaintiff and the putative class as high-priced premium fresh fish. Defendants each knew full well the fish were neither local nor the species they were marketed to be.”

According to the suit, the criminal seafood fraud scheme has been successful for all parties involved as they have benefited economically from selling frozen foreign fish as fresh, premium fish.

The case accuses Mary Mahoney’s and its co-defendants of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), including by using “interstate wire transfers to knowingly and willfully facilitate and execute” the apparent fraudulent scheme.

“Defendants engaged in sophisticated methods of deception,” the lawsuit charges. “Plaintiff and the putative class did not, nor could they, discover Defendants’ scheme and conspiracy on their own.”

The Mary Mahoney’s lawsuit looks to cover all United States residents who bought foreign fish at the restaurant between January 1, 2012 and November 30, 2019.

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