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Frozen Foods International News
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| Catfish Importer Goes to Jail |
"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," ran the theme song
of the TV show Baretta.
So Thomas George, former chief executive officer of Sterling
Seafood Coin prison for passing off pangasius fish from Vietnam
as catfish and evading over $60 million in federal tariffs, plus
selling over $500,000 in similarly mislabeled fish purchased from
another importer.
George, 61, of Old Tappan, New Jersey, had pleaded guilty before
United States Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz last winter to one
count of importing falsely labeled goods into the United States
and one count of selling falsely labeled fish in the United
States with the intent to defraud. United States District Judge
Faith S. Hochberg imposed the sentence July 27 in Newark federal
court. But the whole basis of the case is lobbying by the US
catfish industry.
A few days before George's sentencing, the National Fisheries
Institute, which is aligned with seafood importers, assailed "the
Catfish Farmers of America and other bottom-feeding special
interest lobbying groups" for allegedly orchestrating a phony
health scare over imported pangasius. It was the catfish lobby
that had persuaded Congress years ago to make it illegal to call
pangasius "catfish" even though thats what they are.
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| 28-Jul-10 |
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