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Caviar dealer sentenced to 18 months in smuggling case |
By Anna Wolfe - 02.27.2009
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MIAMI--Caviar purveyor Max Moghaddam and his company Bemka Corp. were sentenced Feb. 25 in the United States District Court for exporting American paddlefish roe without permits.
Moghaddam was sentenced to 18 months in prison, fined $100,000 and ordered to serve three years probation. Bemka, which operates under the name Bemka House of Caviar and Fine Food, was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $200,000 and four years probation. About $122,000 worth of American paddlefish roe was seized by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Moghaddam and his company Bemka Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, were found guilty by a federal jury Dec. 4, 2008, for their involvement in conspiracy, false labeling of export shipments and the illegal export of the internationally protected fish roe during the period from July 2005 through April 2007.
Since 1992, American paddlefish has been listed for protection under the international treaty known the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. More than 170 countries cooperate in the enforcement of the provisions of CITES.
It is illegal to export the American paddlefish roe without CITES permits, and while Moghaddam and Bemka had obtained CITES permits in the past, there was not one on file for the shipment in question, noted Brian Roland, special agent with U.S. Fish and Wildlife office of law enforcement.
According to the USFWS, the American paddlefish was falsely described on shipping invoices and customs documents as bowfin roe.
Gourmet News could not reach a spokesperson for Moghaddam before press time. In the July issue of Gourmet News, Moghaddam said the charges stem from an April 2007 sample shipment to the European Seafood Expo in Brussels where he and his company were exhibiting.
"It was mixed up in the shipping department," said Moghaddam in the July issue of Gourmet News. Admitting the paddlefish roe was accidentally mislabeled as bowfin roe, he said he knows every container is checked, and that anyone could tell the difference between the light to dark gray paddlefish roe and the black bowfin roe.
Moghaddam plead not guilty at the four-day trial that started Dec. 1, 2008. He has 14 days from sentencing to appeal, noted Roland.
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