SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

   Litigation Release No. 16935 / March 16, 2001

   SEC HALTS $6 MILLION DOLLAR FRAUDULENT SCHEME BASED IN WEST PALM
   BEACH, FLORIDA

   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. HAWA CORPORATION, HAWA
   COMMUNICATIONS, INC., HAWA MED, INC., ILONA ALEXIS MANDELBUAM, ROBERT
   E. DUKE, AND SARA GOMEZ DE FERRO, Case No. 01-8220-CIV-HURLEY (S.D.
   Fla.)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that on March
   15, 2001, the Honorable Daniel T.K. Hurley of the United States
   District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered multiple
   emergency Orders to halt an ongoing, fraudulent sale of unregistered
   securities issued by Hawa Corporation ("Hawa"), Hawa Communications,
   Inc. (HawaCom"), and Hawa Med, Inc. ("Hawa Med"). The SEC was provided
   assistance in its investigation by both the , Brazil's securities
   commission, and the , Venezuela's securities authority.

   After reviewing the SEC's Complaint and application to the Court for a
   temporary restraining order, which the Court granted, it issued
   several additional orders at the SEC's request. The Court issued
   orders freezing the Defendants' assets, directing Defendants to
   perform an accounting, directing Defendants to repatriate any assets
   transferred offshore, and ordering Defendants to preserve any
   documents in their possession. Finally, the Court ordered that a
   receiver be appointed to take possession of Defendants' assets. In its
   Complaint, the SEC alleged that Hawa, HawaCom, and Hawa Med have
   raised over $6 million from investors in the United States through a
   fraudulent stock offering. The other named defendants are Ilona Alexis
   Mandelbaum and Sara Gomez de Ferro, both of West Palm Beach, Florida,
   and Robert E. Duke, of Miami, Florida. Ms. Mandelbuam is the
   Chairwoman and President of Hawa, HawaCom, and HawaMed, and Ms. Gomez
   de Ferro is one of HawaCom's controlling shareholders. Mr. Duke
   directed the sales force that fraudulently raised the $6 million.

   According to the SEC's Complaint, Hawa, HawaCom, Hawa Med, and the
   other named defendants claimed that Hawa, HawaCom, and Hawa Med, all
   affiliates, owned over $160 million in assets comprised mainly of
   their acquisitions of three "well-established telecommunications and
   technology firms" located in South America. In addition, HawaCom
   claimed to have developed a revolutionary data compression technology
   that achieves a rate of compression unparalleled in the industry. The
   SEC's complaint alleges that, in reality, Hawa, HawaCom, and Hawa Med
   either do not own the South American companies, or that such companies
   are either in bankruptcy or liquidation. The SEC's 20 page complaint