SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) - Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a sushi chef and a Santa Monica restaurant where marine mammal activists say they were served illegal whale meat.
Typhoon Restaurant, Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant, and Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, a 45-year-old Culver City resident, were charged Wednesday with illegally selling an endangered species product, a misdemeanor.
Two undercover diners requested whale as part of an $600 "omakase," (oh-mah-KAH'-say) or chef's choice, meal. The young women were working with the producers of the Oscar-winning documentary, "The Cove," to record the whole meal.
They pocketed a sample and genetic testing confirmed that it was meat from the endangered Sei whale.
If convicted Yamamoto could face a year in prison and a fine of $100,000. The company could be fined $200,000.
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