Sushi Chefs Face Serious Prison Time After Selling Whale Meat
Two sushi chefs who worked at a now shuttered sushi joint in the Santa Monica Airport are facing federal prison terms. The Japanese chefs are accused of illegally serving whale meat that they intentionally concealed.
According to the Los Angeles Times, in 2010 The Hump closed after a sting operation revealed enough evidence to hit the chef and parent company with felony charges. In true Hollywood fashion, it was all caught on film for what would become an Oscar-winning documentary, The Cove.
After the Feds did further research, they had reason to believe that the restaurant concealed importation and sale of whale meat since 2007, a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Now, the Los Angeles Times reports, chefs Kiyoshiro Yamamoto and Susumu Ueda have been indicted along with the parent company, Typhoon Restaurant Inc., by a federal grand jury. If convicted, Yamamoto will face a prison sentence of up to 67 years while Ueda is looking at up to 10 years. Typhoon Restaurant Inc. could be forced to dole out $1.2 million in fines.
How and why did the chefs serve whale meat? Sei whale may be banned from being sold or imported in the U.S., but despite being endangered (only 80,000 whales are known to be alive worldwide), it is allowed to be served at sushi restaurants in Japan. The chefs ordered the whale meat from a previously convicted Japanese national, Ginichi Ohira, who fudged the invoice, labeling it as fatty tuna instead of the endangered species.
Yamamoto was finally caught in 2009 and 2010 when he sold the forbidden mammal to informants working for the feds. The video sting operation was orchestrated by The Cove's associate producer.
Do you think the sushi chefs should do prison time for their crime?
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