SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C.

 Litigation  Release No. 15756 / May 26, 1998

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Herbert S. Lawson, 98
civ 3734 (TG) (S.D.N.Y)

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a
complaint today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York alleging that Herbert S. Lawson engaged
in illegal insider trading in the securities of Vivra, Inc.,
a major provider of dialysis services, before the public
announcement in May 1997 that Incentive AB, a Swedish
investment company, planned to make a tender offer for
Vivra.  The complaint alleges that Lawson was chief
financial officer of the Colorado-based Gambro Healthcare,
Inc., a dialysis-services company affiliated with
Incentive.  According to the complaint, in April 1997 Lawson
learned, in the course of his employment, that Incentive
intended to make a tender offer for Vivra.

According to the complaint, Lawson purchased 6,000 shares of
Vivra common stock at an average price of $25.49 while in
possession of the material nonpublic information and in
breach of a duty of trust and confidence owed to his
employer.  The complaint further alleges that, in an attempt
to conceal his fraudulent purchases, Lawson purchased the
stock in three different accounts all in the name of a
friend who served as his nominee.  The complaint alleges
that after the tender offer was announced publicly on May 5,
1997, the market price of Vivra  rose to $35.00 per share,
giving Lawson illegal profits of $56,480.34.

Without admitting or denying the substantive allegations in
the complaint, Lawson consented to the entry of a judgment
permanently enjoining him from violating Sections 10(b) and
14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5
and 14e-3, and ordering him to disgorge $56,480.34 plus
prejudgment interest of $4,351.69, and to pay a civil
penalty of $56,480.34.