Pittsburgh Man Cops to Trafficking Rare Dragon Fish

PITTSBURGH — Anthony Nguyen, aka JoJo Nguyen and Jackie Lee, 49, of Pittsburgh, is done trading in black-market fins. The owner of Ichiban Tropical Fish was sentenced today in the Western District of Pennsylvania to five years’ probation, including 180 days of home detention and 225 hours of community service, for trafficking in endangered and invasive fish in violation of the Lacey Act.

Ngyuen previously entered guilty pleas on July 20, 2021, before U.S. District Judge Nora B. Fischer, admitting to counts one and two of the indictment returned Nov. 13, 2020. The charges stem from his illegal sale of Asian arowana — known as dragon fish — in 2016. These freshwater predators, native to Southeast Asia, are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and listed under CITES Appendix I, reserved for species on the brink of extinction.

The arowana trade is a high-stakes underworld game. Coveted for their iridescent scales and serpentine movement, these fish can fetch tens of thousands of dollars on the black market. Nguyen’s shop, Ichiban Tropical Fish, specialized in rare and exotic species, but crossed the line by selling specimens smuggled into the country — a direct violation of federal law.

But the dragon fish weren’t his only crime. In 2019, Nguyen admitted to selling snakehead fish — aggressive, invasive predators native to Asia — in direct violation of Pennsylvania law. Snakeheads have no natural predators in U.S. waters and can decimate local ecosystems, earning them the label of “injurious wildlife” under federal statute.

As part of his plea agreement, Nguyen also admitted to falsifying shipping documents to conceal the snakehead sale. That paper trail didn’t fool investigators. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement led the probe, with support from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan and Trial Attorney Patrick M. Duggan of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section. The sentence sends a message: even in the murky world of exotic fish, the feds are watching.

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