Drop Caviar from the Menu

Fish and Wildlife Service officers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in Maryland became suspicious when they saw labels on tins of Russian caviar begin to peel off. That suspicion led to the largest criminal penalty for wildlife smuggling for one of America’s biggest caviar importers—US Caviar and Caviar Ltd. The company has agreed to a plea bargain in which it will pay a remarkable $10.4 million fine. The company’s president, secretary, and main trading partner will also do a combined 77 months in prison according to Baltimore’s newspaper, The Sun.

The company participated in an elaborate scheme involving the fraudulent labeling of thousands of pounds of caviar from the Caspian Sea. The caviar was imported into the United States via the United Arab Emirates, complete with fake Russian health certificates and false invoices. An account in The New York Times notes that “In 1998 alone, the operation funneled more than 18 tons of sturgeon caviar from the Caspian.”

Caviar is the eggs of fish species known as sturgeon. The Fish and Wildlife Service notes that sturgeons of the Caspian Sea are thought to yield “the highest quality caviar” and comprise “more than 90% of the world caviar trade.” All sturgeon species are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Therefore, all caviar imports into the United States requires valid export permits from the country of origin.