#Next Previous

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

   LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 15729 \ May 1, 1998

   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. JOEL STEINGER AND LESLIE
   STEINGER, Case No. 98-6442-CIV-MIDDLEBROOKS (S.D. Fla.)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced today that
   two South Florida men who founded and controlled Mutual Benefits
   Corporation ("MBC"), one of the country's largest viatical settlement
   companies, settled charges brought against them by the SEC for
   allegedly misleading investors in connection with selling
   approximately $100 million worth of viatical settlements during the
   18-month period from October 1994 to April 1996. With the filing of
   the SEC's Complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District
   of Florida, Joel Steinger and his brother Leslie Steinger consented,
   without admitting or denying liability, to the entry of a judgment
   permanently enjoining them from violating the registration and
   antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. Under the
   judgment, the Steingers will also be required to pay a total of
   $850,000 in disgorgement and interest, and to pay $50,000 each in
   civil money penalties.

   Named in the SEC's Complaint are

   Joel Steinger, age 47, of Pompano Beach, Florida. Joel Steinger was
   involved in many facets of MBC's business operations, including its
   offer and sale of viatical settlements to the investing public. Joel
   Steinger acted as a "consultant" to MBC and received payments from it.

   Leslie Steinger, Joel's younger brother, age 42, of Pompano Beach,
   Florida. Leslie Steinger was until recently the president, director
   and sole shareholder of MBC. With Joel, Leslie Steinger controlled
   MBC.

   In its Complaint, the SEC alleged that the Steingers had caused MBC to
   sell approximately $100 million worth of unregistered viatical
   settlements to more than 1,190 investors nationwide. According to the
   SEC, the Steingers misled investors during this offering by causing
   investors to be told that they held irrevocable interests in certain
   policies when they did not and that their funds were held in a
   "Special Trust Account" when that account was nothing more than an MBC
   checking account. The Steingers also misled investors by failing to
   disclose that investor funds would typically be held by MBC for
   several weeks or more prior to being placed on a policy, thereby
   negatively affecting the investment's annual rate of return.