Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, October 15, 1998
State fines Paragon for investment deals
The state has fined a California man and a company he was affiliated with $50,000 for allegedly selling unregistered securities in Hawaii. Securities Commissioner Ryan S. Ushijima also ordered Brian Hirahara and Paragon Resource Group to stop selling the investments. The state said Hawaii residents were promised a 50 percent to 75 percent monthly return if they invested at least $100,000 with Paragon. They also were guaranteed that their principal would be returned within a year and that they could structure the deals so taxes never would be owed, the state said. But the state said officials internationally have warned about fraudulent investments structured in a similar way.
Royal Caribbean fined $8 mil for dumping oil
WASHINGTON -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. , the world's second-largest cruise line, was ordered yesterday to pay $8 million for dumping oil and lying to the U.S. Coast Guard about it, the Justice Department said.The sentencing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was in addition to a $1 million fine levied in a Miami court last month. The two court cases were part of an overall plea bargain by Royal Caribbean that involves five years of monitoring the line's environmental conduct.
Royal Caribbean pleaded guilty in June to eight felony counts in a pretrial agreement with prosecutors on cases brought in Puerto Rico and Florida.
In other news . . .
ATLANTA -- Delta Air Lines Inc.'s first-quarter earnings rose 29 percent as the No. 3 U.S. airline filled a record percentage of seats and benefited from a strike at rival Northwest Airlines Corp. Net income rose to $327 million, or $4.16 a share, from $254 million, or $3.26, a year earlier. Revenue rose 7 percent to $3.80 billion.
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