SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

   Litigation Release No. 16382 / December 9, 1999

   UNITED STATES V. AMERICO GALLO, U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y.,
   99-CR-1471 (DLC)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that
   on December 3, 1999, United States District Judge Denise L. Cote
   sentenced Americo R. Gallo ("Gallo") to a prison term of 41 months and
   restitution to investors of $832,000. Gallo, a former registered
   representative and resident of Brooklyn, New York, was prosecuted by
   the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of
   New York. Gallo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit
   securities fraud in June 1999.

   Gallo was prosecuted for some of the same conduct that underlies a
   civil complaint filed by the Commission against Gallo, Sharon Harosh,
   and three companies, Traderz Associates Holding Inc. ("Traderz
   Associates"), Blackwell Co. ("Blackwell"), and Goldman Lender & Co.
   Holdings ("Goldman Lender").

   In its complaint, which was filed in October 1998, the Commission
   alleges that Gallo, the president of Traderz Associates, defrauded
   investors in connection with a purported private placement of stock of
   Traderz Associates. The complaint alleges that Gallo solicited
   investors and Gallo misrepresented to them, among other things, that
   Traderz Associates' stock would be registered with the Commission and
   publicly traded in a few months, at which time the stock price would
   double or triple from the private placement price. The complaint
   further alleges that Gallo misappropriated a significant portion of
   the offering proceeds and gave other large sums to colleagues
   soliciting investors to buy Traderz Associates stock.

   The Commission's complaint also alleges that Harosh, or his agents,
   made misrepresentations in soliciting investors to purchase the stock
   of Blackwell and Goldman Lender that were similar to those made by
   Gallo in the sale of Traderz Associates stock. A number of investors
   who invested in Traderz Associates were later solicited to invest in
   Blackwell or Goldman Lender, and investors received similar private
   placement memoranda for the three companies.

   The Commission's action, which alleges that the defendants violated
   Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the
   Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, remains
   pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District
   of New York. The Commission was previously granted an asset freeze for
   funds collected from investors, a preliminary injunction, and the