SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

   Litigation Release No. 16629 / July 17, 2000

   INTERNET STOCK PROMOTER FINED $20,000 FOR ISSUING FALSE STOCK
   RECOMMENDATION FROM CHASE MANHATTAN BANK

   Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jason M. Chester and JMAX Online
   Communications, Inc., No. 8 00-CV1443-T-24F (filed July 17, 2000)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that on July
   17, 2000, it filed a civil complaint against Jason M. Chester and JMAX
   Online Communications, Inc. of Tampa, Florida, alleging that they
   published on the Internet a stock recommendation on Winchester Mining
   Corporation (Winchester), an OTC Bulletin Board stock, that they
   falsely said had been issued by Chase Manhattan Bank. The SEC also
   announced that Chester and JMAX, without admitting or denying any of
   the allegations in the SEC's complaint, simultaneously agreed to
   settle the charges that they violated the anti-fraud and anti-touting
   provisions of the federal securities laws. Under the terms of the
   settlement, Chester and JMAX consented to the entry of permanent
   injunctive relief, payment of a $20,000 civil penalty, and
   disgorgement in the amount of $1,425 plus prejudgment interest.

   In its complaint, the SEC alleges that Chester and JMAX fraudulently
   misrepresented that Chase Manhattan Bank had placed a "strong buy
   recommendation" on Winchester's stock in an investment review and
   related press release that Chester and JMAX published on the Internet
   on December 9, 1999. The complaint alleges that, in addition to rating
   Winchester a "strong buy," the investment review projected that
   Winchester's stock, which was then trading at $0.17 per share, could
   reach $5 per share in 2000. The SEC further alleges that on the day
   that Chester and JMAX issued the fraudulent investment review and
   press release, Winchester became the fifth most actively traded stock
   on the OTC Bulletin Board.

   The SEC's complaint alleges that, in fact, the investment review
   attributed to Chase Manhattan Bank had been prepared by Fredrick
   Thompson, an employee in Chase's debt collections department, who
   Chester had recently met in a bar in Tampa and who had no securities
   industry experience or connection to Chase Manhattan Bank's securities
   operations. The SEC alleges that Chester and JMAX failed to disclose
   these facts to investors. In addition, Chester and JMAX failed to
   disclose that Chase had not authorized Thompson or any of its
   employees to publish an investment analysis of Winchester, and that
   Thompson never sought Chase's authorization to publish the review.

   The SEC alleges that Chester and JMAX also violated the antifraud