April 29th, 2022
New York, New Jersey and China-Based Defendants Charged with Smuggling Imperiled Eels Worth Millions of Dollars
The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Environmental Crimes Section, unsealed an indictment charging a major seafood distributor and eight of its employees and associates with smuggling, Lacey Act violations and conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, stemming from their trafficking in large volumes of highly imperiled eels. The defendants facing these felony charges are:
American Eel Depot Corporation of Totowa, New Jersey
Yi Rui Huang, aka Ricky, 47, of Oakland Gardens, New York
Fen Liu, aka Emily, 45, of Oakland Gardens, New York
Chao Jin Shi, aka Kevin, 49, of Flushing, New York
Guo Tuan Zhou, aka Jason, 45, of Woodhaven, New York
Liang Chen, aka Jackie, 33, of Fujian, China
Yundong Wei, 42, of Fuzhou, China
Xiajuan Huang Zhouyi, 46, of Changle, China
Hong Lee, aka John, 75, of Yuen Long, Hong Kong
American Eel Depot is the largest importer and wholesale distributor of eel meat in the United States. Eel poaching and smuggling is one of the world’s biggest wildlife trafficking problems, based on both the number of animals and the amount of money that changes hands in the black market.
Following a crackdown on the poaching and smuggling of American eels, eel traffickers, including the defendants in this case, shifted their efforts to European eels, a species facing an even greater threat of extinction. It has been illegal since 2010 to export European eels out of any European Union country. European eels are also protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) wildlife protection treaty, which is enforced in the United States through the Endangered Species Act.
Despite this ban, the indictment alleges, the defendants conspired to unlawfully smuggle large quantities of live baby European eels out of Europe, to their eel-rearing factory in China. After rearing the baby eels to maturity, defendants’ Chinese facility would then slaughter and process the eels for shipping to the United States, to be sold as sushi products.
The indictment alleges that, over a four-year period, the defendants imported approximately 138 ocean containers full of eel meat into the United States, with a market value exceeding $160 million. The indictment focuses on six containers, seized by the government, which were determined to contain all or mostly European eel, mislabeled as American eel to avoid law enforcement detection. American eel fishing is highly regulated but still lawful in limited quantities in some areas. As alleged in the indictment, the defendants knew the eels’ true species, knew what they were doing was unlawful, and intentionally lied to U.S. authorities to conceal the illegalities and avoid detection.
If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 (for individual defendants) or $500,000 (for business organizations), or twice the financial gain to the defendant or twice the financial loss to another, whichever is greater. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. back...
The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Environmental Crimes Section, unsealed an indictment charging a major seafood distributor and eight of its employees and associates with smuggling, Lacey Act violations and conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, stemming from their trafficking in large volumes of highly imperiled eels. The defendants facing these felony charges are:
American Eel Depot Corporation of Totowa, New Jersey
Yi Rui Huang, aka Ricky, 47, of Oakland Gardens, New York
Fen Liu, aka Emily, 45, of Oakland Gardens, New York
Chao Jin Shi, aka Kevin, 49, of Flushing, New York
Guo Tuan Zhou, aka Jason, 45, of Woodhaven, New York
Liang Chen, aka Jackie, 33, of Fujian, China
Yundong Wei, 42, of Fuzhou, China
Xiajuan Huang Zhouyi, 46, of Changle, China
Hong Lee, aka John, 75, of Yuen Long, Hong Kong
American Eel Depot is the largest importer and wholesale distributor of eel meat in the United States. Eel poaching and smuggling is one of the world’s biggest wildlife trafficking problems, based on both the number of animals and the amount of money that changes hands in the black market.
Following a crackdown on the poaching and smuggling of American eels, eel traffickers, including the defendants in this case, shifted their efforts to European eels, a species facing an even greater threat of extinction. It has been illegal since 2010 to export European eels out of any European Union country. European eels are also protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) wildlife protection treaty, which is enforced in the United States through the Endangered Species Act.
Despite this ban, the indictment alleges, the defendants conspired to unlawfully smuggle large quantities of live baby European eels out of Europe, to their eel-rearing factory in China. After rearing the baby eels to maturity, defendants’ Chinese facility would then slaughter and process the eels for shipping to the United States, to be sold as sushi products.
The indictment alleges that, over a four-year period, the defendants imported approximately 138 ocean containers full of eel meat into the United States, with a market value exceeding $160 million. The indictment focuses on six containers, seized by the government, which were determined to contain all or mostly European eel, mislabeled as American eel to avoid law enforcement detection. American eel fishing is highly regulated but still lawful in limited quantities in some areas. As alleged in the indictment, the defendants knew the eels’ true species, knew what they were doing was unlawful, and intentionally lied to U.S. authorities to conceal the illegalities and avoid detection.
If convicted, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 (for individual defendants) or $500,000 (for business organizations), or twice the financial gain to the defendant or twice the financial loss to another, whichever is greater. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. back...
