Los Angeles , California ( CNN ) -- Federal authorities have charged a trendy Santa Monica sushi restaurant with serving whale meat -- an investigation that was spurred by the team behind the Oscar-winning documentary , `` The Cove . '' Prosecutors charged Typhoon Restaurant Inc. , the parent company of The Hump , and one of its chefs -- Kiyoshiro Yamamoto , 45 -- with the illegal sale of a marine mammal product for an unauthorized purpose . While it is considered a delicacy in Japan and some other countries , meat from whale -- an endangered species -- can not be sold legally in the United States . The misdemeanor charge carries a federal prison sentence of up to a year and a fine of up to $ 200,000 for the company , said Thom Mrozek , spokesman for the U.S. Attorney 's Office . Lawyers for Typhoon could not be reached for comment . But the restaurant told the Los Angeles Times it accepts responsibility and will pay a fine . The investigation began in October when two members of the team that made `` The Cove '' visited The Hump , officials said . `` The Cove , '' which exposes the annual killing of dolphins at a Japanese fishing village , won the Academy Award for Best Documentary on Sunday . The restaurant , located at the Santa Monica Airport , is known for its exotic fare . Its Web site asks diners to surrender themselves to its chefs for `` a culinary adventure ... unlike any that you have previously experienced . '' Armed with a hidden camera , the two women captured the waitress serving them whale and horse meat and identifying them as such , a federal criminal complaint said . A receipt from the restaurant at the end of the meal identified their selection as `` whale '' and `` horse '' with the cost -- $ 85 -- written next to them . The women snuck pieces of the meat into a napkin and later sent them for examination to a researcher at Oregon State University . He identified the whale sample to be that of sei whale , prosecutors said . The sei is found throughout the world 's oceans . Whalers began to hunt them after the population of blue and in whales declined due to overfishing . It is now considered an endangered species . In February and March , the activists returned and again asked for -- and were served -- whale meat , the criminal complaint said . A DNA test of the meat smuggled out after the February visit confirmed it to be meat from the sei whale , Mrozek said . During the last visit in March , officials with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection , the U.S . Fish and Wildlife Services and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observed the activists asking for `` kujira '' or whale meat . One of the officers then saw the sushi chef leave the restaurant and return with a wrapped package that he seemed to have retrieved from a parked Mercedes , the complaint said . The chef then told a customer it was whale meat , the document said . The next , officials raided the restaurant and chef Yamamoto admitted that he had served whale meat , the complaint said . `` Someone should not be able to walk into a restaurant and order a plate of an endangered species , '' said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr . Authorities do not yet know where the meat came from . Conservation agencies are engaged in an ongoing feud with Japan over whaling . In the early 1980s , the International Whaling Commission determined that there should be a moratorium on commercial whale hunting . Whaling is allowed under international law when done for scientific reasons , which Japan cites as the legal basis for its hunts . The country 's annual hunt kills up to 1,000 whales a year . Many in the international community believe that such hunts amount to needless slaughter . Critics say that Japan 's research is actually a pretext for retrieving whale meat to be sold in markets and restaurants .
Individuals charged with the illegal sale of a marine mammal product for unauthorized consumption . Meat from whales , an endangered species , can not be sold legally in the United States . Authorities do not yet know where the meat came from .