A vice president of a Miami-based seafood wholesaler has pleaded guilty to participating in a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices for stone crab claws and spiny lobster, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced on Thursday.
Dennis Dopico, of Miami, admitted in court on September 16 to conspiring with competitors between 2023 and 2025 to suppress competition by coordinating the prices paid to fishermen for their harvests. According to court documents, the scheme depressed payments to fishermen and affected roughly $8 million in commerce.
“Price fixing cheats fishermen, squeezes restaurants, and makes families pay more at the table,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi added that the conspiracy “unfairly took money out of the pockets of hardworking fishermen for years.”
Investigators revealed that Dopico and his co-conspirators exchanged text messages and phone calls to coordinate prices and adjust them throughout harvest seasons. In one exchange, Dopico told a competitor, “Don’t show text to anyone. Confidential,” to which the co-conspirator replied, “We’re working together now not against each other.”
Dopico pleaded guilty to one felony count of restraining trade by conspiring to fix prices, a violation of the Sherman Act. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine, though fines can be increased to twice the gain or loss from the crime if higher than the statutory limit.
Sentencing is set for January 5, 2026, before a federal district court judge. The case remains under investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
