Chef’s Sushi May Land Them in Jail

Two sushi chefs who worked at a now shuttered sushi joint in the Santa Monica Airport are facing federal prison terms. The Japanese chefs are accused of illegally serving whale meat that they intentionally concealed.The restaurant closed after a sting operation revealed enough evidence to hit the chef and parent company with felony charges.After the Feds did further research, they had reason to believe that the restaurant concealed importation and sale of whale meat since 2007, a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Now chefs Kiyoshiro Yamamoto and Susumu Ueda have been indicted along with the parent company, Typhoon Restaurant Inc., by a federal grand jury. If convicted, Yamamoto will face a prison sentence of up to 67 years while Ueda is looking at up to 10 years.