A fishing influencer known as the “Sharkman” is facing criminal charges after allegedly catching a protected great white shark off Cape Cod, dragging it onto the beach, and celebrating the encounter on camera.

Christopher Stefanou, 30, of Long Island, New York, was indicted by a Barnstable County grand jury and arraigned October 21. The allegations stem from a nighttime fishing expedition near Wellfleet’s Marconi Beach in October 2025.

Stefanou, who posts as “LI Sharkman,” has amassed millions of YouTube subscribers with videos documenting dramatic shark catches. According to the Provincetown Independent , he traveled to Cape Cod with his crew and a customer from Amsterdam for what they called “Operation Amsterdam.”

Prosecutors allege the group used drones to drop baited lines offshore, hooked a great white, and fought it for more than an hour before hauling the exhausted animal onto the sand. They photographed the shark before removing the hook and releasing it.

The catch was no mystery to scientists.…