Cruise line fined for dumping waste

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Norwegian Cruise Line admitted to dumping waste from several of its ships and agreed to pay a $1 million criminal fine, said a statement released Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

"NCL financially benefited by not expending the resources necessary to maintain its pollution prevention equipment, failing to properly offload waste oil in port and not purchasing adequate equipment in the first place," the statement said.

The plea agreement was reached after the Environmental Protection Agency learned of the illegal oil dumping from a former Norwegian employee, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"We took responsibility and fixed the problem, at a very substantial cost," Norwegian President and CEO Colin Veitch said in a statement. "Instead of stalling or stonewalling, we cooperated fully with the government throughout this period."