Sushi Chef Receives Probation For Selling Whale Meat At Santa Monica Restaurant
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A sushi chef who served federally protected whale meat to customers at a Santa Monica restaurant was sentenced on Monday.
Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, who worked for The Hump restaurant at the Santa Monica Airport, was ordered to spend two years on probation, pay a $5,000 fine, and also complete 200 hours of community service, according to the U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer.
Fellow chef Susumu Ueda received the same sentence earlier this month.
Authorities explained Yamamato and Ueda served meat from endangered Sei whales to customers at the restaurant.
In 2010, an investigation launched after documentary filmmakers of "The Cove" secretly taped the chefs serving the endangered whale meat, and subsequently tipped off federal agents.
Officials explained it is illegal to sell any kind of meat in the United States.
Prosecutors reported the illegal meat was sold at the restaurant for three years. The Hump closed in 2010.
According to court documents, the chefs purchased the whale meat from Ginichi Ohira, a Gardena-based seafood dealer, that bought the meat from a Japanese supplier.
Yamamoto and Ueda pleaded guilty in 2014 to three misdemeanor charges of conspiracy, offering and selling a marine mammal product for an unauthorized purpose.
Ohira will be sentenced on June 23.
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