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Maui Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo sentenced a former 2014 Maui mayoral candidate to 20 years in prison for securities fraud, the attorney general’s office announced Monday.
Nelson Waikiki was sentenced Friday on four counts of securities fraud and ordered to pay restitution to the victims.
Waikiki persuaded several people to invest money in a water rights company on Maui, Deputy Attorney General Albert Cook said.
"Following an investigation by the state, it was determined that Mr. Waikiki did not have such rights to the water, that he was not registered to sell securities in Hawaii and that the securities he sold were not registered," Cook said.
Waikiki scammed up to 21 victims for more than $100,000, the attorney general’s office said. The victims invested their money with Waikiki, who was not a registered securities broker, between July 2008 and December 2012.
3 small quakes recorded within Kilauea rift zone
Three earthquakes of magnitude 2.6 or higher were recorded in Kilauea’s East Rift Zone on Monday morning as Kilauea’s summit continues to experience a period of slight inflation, and the lava lake in Halemaumau Crater remained close to its rim but did not spill over.
The biggest earthquake, estimated at magnitude 3.6, struck at 4:42 a.m. about 2 miles south-southwest of Volcano in Kilauea’s East Rift Zone at a depth of about 1.9 miles and was felt in Volcano and the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
No damage or injuries were reported.
It was followed by two more earthquakes in about the same area of magnitude 2.9 at about 4:49 a.m. and magnitude 2.6 at about 9:31 a.m.
Scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the area around Kilauea is experiencing increased seismic activity that may be an indication of lava moving underground.
Kids hope to fold 1,000 cranes to give to sisters
KAILUA-KONA » A group of third-graders hopes to send two sisters visiting from Fukushima home to Japan with 1,000 paper cranes that represent wishes for health and goodwill.
West Hawaii Today reported Monday the students at Makua Lani Christian Academy were taught to fold the paper creatures by sisters Hinata and Futaba Abe, who are both in Hawaii as part of the Fukushima Kids Hawaii project.
Co-founder Yumi Kikuchi says the program seeks to give the 300,000 kids in Fukushima respite from the radiation that’s been causing health problems since a nuclear disaster after a quake and tsunami in March 2011.
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