2019 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 26. TRADE REGULATION AND PRACTICE
482E. Franchise Investment Law
482E-10.6 Criminal penalties.
§482E-10.6 Criminal penalties. (a) Violations of this chapter shall be as follows:
(1) An offense in which the total value of all money and anything else of value paid by or lost by the victim pursuant to the same scheme, plan, or representation, or to the same entity, amounts to less than $5,000, shall be a class C felony.
(2) An offense in which the total value of all money and anything else of value paid by or lost by the victim pursuant to the same scheme, plan, or representation, or to the same entity, amounts to $5,000 or more, shall be a class B felony.
(b) In addition to the penalties provided in subsection (a), any person who violates this chapter shall forfeit to the State any interest or property acquired or maintained in connection with the violation, and any interest, security, claim, or property or contractual right of any kind affording a source of influence over any enterprise which was established, operated, controlled, conducted, or joined in connection with the violation.
(c) The value of all money and anything else of value paid or lost by more than one victim pursuant to the same scheme, plan, or representation, or to the same entity, may be aggregated in determining the class or grade of the offense.
(d) Upon conviction of a person under this chapter, the circuit court shall authorize the county attorney or prosecutor, or the attorney general, as the case may be, to seize all property or other interest declared forfeit pursuant to subsection (b) upon such terms and conditions as the court shall specify. The State shall dispose of such property or other interest as soon as feasible making due provision for the rights of innocent persons. If a property right or other interest is not exercisable or transferable so as to be of value to the State, it shall remain in the possession of the State and the director shall dispose of it as deemed proper by the director; provided that the violator shall not benefit from any such disposal.
(e) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, a person who has been convicted of a felony under this section, or has had a prior conviction for a crime which would constitute a felony under this section, shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum period of imprisonment of one year without possibility of parole. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to in any way limit the maximum term of imprisonment provided under chapter 706.
(f) Notwithstanding any other laws to the contrary, the following time limitations shall apply to prosecutions for felony violations of this chapter:
(1) Prosecution for a felony under this chapter shall be commenced within five years after the offense is committed.
(2) If the period prescribed in paragraph (1) has expired, prosecution for a felony under this chapter may be commenced within two years after the discovery of the offense by an aggrieved party who is not a party to the offense, but in no event shall prosecution commence more than seven years after the offense is committed. [L 1988, c 339, §2]
