Wildlife scientists accused of taking caviar and moonshine bribes

(File Image) The caviar came from sturgeon in Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago

Credit: FABRICE COFFRINI /AFP/Getty Images

Officials in Wisconsin say they have uncovered a wide-ranging scheme in which employees of the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) were funnelling sturgeon eggs to caviar producers in exchange for jars of the delicacy. 

The news emerged after prosecutors charged the state’s top sturgeon expert, Ryan Koenigs, with obstructing the investigation. He faces up to nine months in jail and $10,000 (£7,250) in fines and could be the first of many charged.

Wisconsin has an annual sturgeon spearfishing season on Lake Winnebago every February, during which catching the fish is legal for 16 days.

The three-year investigation by the DNR and the US Fish and Wildlife Service found evidence that DNR employees were collecting eggs from spearfishers to use in fertility studies, but instead of disposing of them afterwards took them to caviar processors, in violation of state and federal law.

In return for the eggs, the DNR employees were alleged to have received jars of caviar and, in one case, moonshine. One former fisheries supervisor told investigators that DNR officials ate the caviar during meetings.

According to the criminal complaint, one processor told investigators he would turn up after hours at DNR labs to collect the eggs and that he made approximately 30kg (65lbs) of caviar in 2015, mostly from DNR eggs.

Employees were allegedly nervous about the scheme. A DNR sturgeon registration employee told agents that one year they threw out all the sturgeon eggs because wardens were asking too many questions about them, the complaint states.

Koenigs was interviewed by agents in January 2020 and denied knowledge of the scheme, although he said DNR employees sometimes took eggs directly to processors on behalf of spearfishers and received caviar in return. 

The investigators allege that Koenigs’ statements in that interview didn’t match phone records and other DNR documents and that he later wiped his work phone. His false statements added “hundreds” of hours to an investigation, the complaint alleged.

Koenigs himself admitted last week to receiving 20 to 30 jars of caviar, the complaint shows. 

“If we were doing it, we’d probably get a fine for it,” Brian Carlson, a fisherman told local news, “It’s kind of sad really. People that you’re supposed to trust and all that, that they’re doing what they’re supposed to do with them”.