SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 16940 / March 22, 2001

   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. EARL A. ABBOTT, RICHARD L.
   STALVEY, GLENN PURDUE, ROBERT E. GERWIN, KENNETH C. NUNN AND THOMAS J.
   O'KEEFFE (United States District Court for the Middle District of
   Florida, C.A. No. 6 01cvORL31KRS )

   The Commission announced today the filing of a civil fraud action in
   the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
   against five men for the fraudulent sale of over $3.5 million in
   non-existent prime bank securities. According to the complaint, Earl
   A. Abbott ("Abbott"), a Titusville, Florida businessman and three of
   his sales agents, Richard L. Stalvey ("Stalvey"), an Albany, Georgia
   accountant, Glenn Purdue, of Indianapolis, Indiana and Robert E.
   Gerwin, of Cincinnati, Ohio, sold $3.55 million of non-existent prime
   bank securities which were purportedly supplied by defendant Kenneth
   C. Nunn ("Nunn"), a resident of England. The Commission alleges that
   the defendants violated the securities registration, antifraud and
   broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws
   in connection with their offer and sale of these securities. Thomas J.
   O'Keeffe ("O'Keeffe"), of Ireland, is alleged to have received over $1
   million of these funds, supposedly to trade the securities. O'Keeffe
   is named as a relief defendant.

   The Commission's complaint alleges that the defendants engaged in the
   fraudulent offer and sale of unregistered securities in the form of
   interests in a non-existent "trading program." The complaint further
   alleges that the defendants claimed that they would use investor funds
   to buy and sell "medium term debentures" issued by some of the world's
   "top 25 banks," with the trading to be conducted by an unidentified
   "trading group" in a secret location somewhere in Europe. According to
   the complaint, the defendants promised investors extraordinarily high
   returns (between 80% and 160%) with no risk. The Commission alleges
   that the defendants' representations were false There were no bank
   debentures and no trading took place. According to the Commission, as
   a result of the defendants' actions, U.S. investors lost approximately
   $3.1 million. It is alleged that the defendants' "trading program" has
   all the hallmarks of a "prime bank" scheme, a type of investment fraud
   involving fictitious instruments supposedly issued by leading world
   banks.

   The complaint alleges that the defendants raised over $3.5 million
   from twelve investors in five different states between May and October
   1998. Approximately $3.3 million of those investor funds, according to
   the Commission's complaint, were wired to an off-shore account on
   Guernsey in the Channel Islands controlled by defendant Nunn. The