SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

   Litigation Release No. 16352 / November 10, 1999

   UNITED STATES V. JOSEPH FALCONE, U.S. District Court, E.D.N.Y., No.
   99-CR-332 (TCP)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that
   on November 9, 1999, Joseph T. Falcone ("Falcone"), a resident of Old
   Bethpage, New York, and former registered representative of the
   Melville, New York branch of a registered broker-dealer. was found
   guilty of insider trading. In a trial prosecuted by the Office of the
   United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, a jury
   found Falcone guilty of 14 felony counts arising out of Falcone's
   recommendations to customers of securities mentioned in the "Inside
   Wall Street" column of Business Week magazine and his own purchases of
   such securities.

   The Commission previously filed a civil complaint against Falcone,
   four other registered representatives, and a foreman at a magazine
   distribution facility, alleging that, from June 1995 to January 1996,
   the defendants engaged in an insider trading scheme involving
   nonpublic advance copies of the "Inside Wall Street" column. The
   Commission's Complaint alleges that defendant Larry F. Smath
   ("Smath"), a registered representative at Renaissance Financial
   Securities Corp. in Mineola, New York, obtained advance copies of
   "Inside Wall Street" columns from Gregory R. Salvage ("Salvage"), a
   foreman at Hudson News Company, before the columns were made public.
   In exchange for faxing the columns to him, Smath usually paid Salvage
   approximately $200 per column from June 1995 to January 1996. While in
   possession of the nonpublic "Inside Wall Street" columns, Smath traded
   securities in brokerage accounts in his name and/or the names of his
   relatives. In addition, the Commission's Complaint alleges that
   Falcone and other defendants paid Smath for communicating the contents
   of the "Inside Wall Street" columns to them before the columns were
   made public. While in possession of the nonpublic information obtained
   from the columns, Falcone and other defendants traded securities
   mentioned in the columns and recommended those securities to their
   customers. In total, the defendants and their family members and
   customers purchased approximately $8 million of securities mentioned
   in "Inside Wall Street" columns.

   Smath and two of the other defendants in the Commission's action,
   Peter L. Cohen and Seth J. Glaser, were also charged by the U.S.
   Attorney's Office. Each previously pleaded guilty to a felony charge.
   The Commission's action, which alleges that the defendants violated
   Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5
   thereunder, is pending in the United States District Court, Eastern