Google Alert was busy this week with media pick up of Oceana’s awareness campaign on seafood fraud, including some good coverage of the Better Seafood Board.

But interspersed with these stories are some different takes on fraud in the seafood industry that hit the media waves this week. Lest we think that all fraud takes place in the United States, the first story is from down under in Australia.

Seafood Fraudster Pleads Guilty

A Gold Coast man pleaded guilty to 23 counts of fraud and obtaining money by false pretenses charges of defrauding five people of a total of about $6.5 million for investing in a non-existent seafood business.

Former bookkeeper sentenced to 28 months for embezzling $2.3M from Va. seafood company

A former bookkeeper for a local seafood company was sentenced Wednesday to 28 months in federal prison, plus 10 months of home confinement, after admitting she embezzled $2.3 million from the company to feed her gambling addiction.

Southern California Seafood Dealer Pleads Guilty to Selling Whale Meat

A Gardena seafood dealer who imported endangered whale meat from Tokyo and sold it to sushi restaurants pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge for selling a marine mammal product for an unauthorized purpose, in violation of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Trucker Disappears with $400,000 Worth of Crab

A truck load of 25,000 pounds of king crab disappears. The trucking company and truckers documents appear to have been bogus.