The Department of Justice announces the sentencing of Karen L. Blyth and David H. M. Phelps in federal court in Mobile, Ala., to 33 months and 24 months in prison, respectively. The pair was also fined $5,000 each, and barred for three years from working in the seafood industry or owning any seafood related business. Blyth and Phelps had been convicted in January 2011 of 13 felony offenses for their roles in purchasing and selling farm-raised Asian catfish and Lake Victoria perch falsely labeled as grouper, selling foreign farm-raised shrimp falsely labeled as U.S. wild caught shrimp, selling shrimp they falsely claimed to be larger, more expensive shrimp than they actually were, and for buying fish they knew had been illegally imported into the United States.

These significant sentences are appropriate penalties for Blyth and Phelps, who committed multiple felonies in conspiring to scam consumers with falsely labeled, cheaper fish substitutes from Asia and Africa, said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. Their fraudulent scheme artificially deflated the cost of wild-caught fish, and gave them an unacceptable economic advantage over law abiding fisherman.

These prosecutions and the sentences that were imposed today should send a clear message that instances of consumer fraud will not be tolerated and that this U.S. Attorneys Office will continue to aggressively protect local seafood consumers and all components of the local seafood market and industry, said Kenyen R. Brown, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.