Sushi Restaurant Owners Plead Guilty to Serving Whale Meat

The owners of a defunct sushi restaurant pled guilty Tuesday to serving whale meat, more than four years after a documentary film crew captured the illicit meal on tape.

Brian Vidor, owner of The Hump restaurant in Santa Monica, California, and his parent company, Typhoon Restaurant Inc., agreed to pay a $27,500 fine for slicing up a serving of Sei whale, an endangered species protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Sushi chefs at the Hump unwittingly served the meat to undercover agents for the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The scene was captured on film by the documentarians behind The Cove, an Academy Award-winning expose of the dolphin meat trade.

[L.A. Times]