SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

   Litigation Rel. No. 16922 / March 2, 2001

   SEC v. Vigue et al., Civil Action No. 00113-B (United States District
   Court for the District of Maine, filed June 7, 2000)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that William
   Goodhue, formerly a trader at Firm Investment Corp. ("Firm"), has
   settled the Commission's enforcement action against him. During the
   relevant period, Firm was a broker-dealer in Waterville, Maine and a
   subsidiary of Firstmark Corp., a Maine-based financial services
   company. The Commission's complaint alleged that, as Firm's trader,
   Goodhue participated in a scheme to manipulate Firstmark's stock.
   Goodhue, a resident of Sidney, Maine, consented, without admitting or
   denying the allegations of the Commission's complaint, to the entry of
   a permanent injunction and has agreed to pay a civil penalty of
   $15,000 to settle this action. In a related administrative order,
   based on the entry of the injunction, Goodhue cosented to be barred
   from association with any broker or dealer, with the right to reapply
   for association after eighteen months.

   The Commission's complaint in SEC v. Vigue et al. (D. Maine, filed
   June 7, 2000) alleged that, from 1994 through 1996, Goodhue took part
   in a scheme to maintain the price of Firstmark stock at $4 per share
   by effecting manipulative trades and by enforcing a "no net sale"
   policy. The complaint specifically alleged that Goodhue maintained a
   waiting list of Firm customers who wished to sell their shares of
   Firstmark stock but were not permitted to do so until their sell
   orders could be matched with buy orders, a process that sometimes took
   months. The complaint alleged that, when the manipulation scheme
   collapsed in early 1997, the price of Firstmark stock declined from
   approximately $4 to less than $1, causing substantial harm to
   Firstmark shareholders, many of whom were residents of the Waterville
   area. On April 27, 1999, Firstmark stock was delisted from the NASDAQ
   SmallCap market.

   The complaint alleged that Goodhue violated the antifraud provisions
   of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("the Securities Act")
   and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("the
   Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and that he aided and abetted
   violations of the antifraud provisions of Sections 206(1) and 206(2)
   of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 committed by James F. Vigue,
   Firstmark's former CEO. The complaint alleged, in the alternative,
   that Goodhue aided and abetted Vigue's violations of the antifraud
   provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) of
   the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.