Benihana Founder Fined for Insider Trading

Rocky Aoki, founder of the Benihana Japanese restaurant chain, was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $500,000 for illegally profiting from a 1993 tip that Spectrum Information Technologies Inc. was about to hire former Apple Computer Inc. chief John Sculley. The restaurateur was charged in 1998 with insider trading by the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y. He pleaded guilty in August to four criminal counts and could have received a prison sentence of 12 to 18 months, prosecutors said. Aoki, who founded Miami-based Benihana in 1964, gave up his 51% interest in the chain and resigned as chairman after he told the company he was under investigation.