SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

   Litigation Release No. 16362 / November 18, 1999

   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. PASCHAL GENE ALLEN, Civil Action
   No. 1 99-CV-2986 (N.D. Ga.) (Nov. 18, 1999).

                  SEC CHARGES FORMER PUBLIC FINANCE BANKER
                   WITH DEFRAUDING FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA
                       Banker to Pay $20,000 Penalty

   The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the filing of a
   complaint against Paschal Gene Allen, a former public finance banker
   in the Atlanta office of Stephens Inc., for taking undisclosed
   payments in connection with a securities investment he recommended to
   his financial advisory client, Fulton County, Georgia. The complaint
   also charges Allen with taking undisclosed compensation from
   underwriter's counsel in connection with five local bond issues in
   Georgia.

   The complaint, filed in the Northern District of Georgia, alleges the
   following In the Fall of 1994, Allen recommended to Fulton County that
   it take certain County funds and invest them in a portfolio of
   long-term United States Treasury securities and an associated put
   option. The County adopted Allen's recommendation, and the transaction
   closed on November 29, 1994. Allen did not disclose, however, that he
   arranged to take, and subsequently took, $20,970.10 in payments in
   connection with the transaction. Allen's failure to disclose the
   arrangement, the payment, and the actual and potential conflicts of
   interest created thereby violated the following antifraud provisions
   of the federal securities laws Section 10(b) of the Securities
   Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. By 1998, Allen had
   paid the $20,970.10 over to Stephens, after disclosing the payments to
   the firm. In other conduct occurring between September 1991 and April
   1993, Allen also received undisclosed compensation totaling $10,900
   from underwriter's counsel in connection with five separate municipal
   securities offerings in Georgia. In these offerings, Stephens served
   as underwriter and a Georgia law firm served as underwriter's counsel.
   In each offering, the issuer paid the underwriter's counsel fees of
   the law firm. Yet, Allen, who served as Stephens' lead banker on the
   transactions, did not disclose his payment arrangement with the law
   firm to the issuers or in the bonds' offering documents. Allen's
   failure to disclose this compensation violated Section 15B(c)(1) of
   the Exchange Act and Rule G-17 of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking
   Board.

   Simultaneously with the filing of the complaint, without admitting or
   denying the complaint's allegations, Allen agreed to the entry of a