UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION


          Litigation Release No. 15700 / April 8, 1998

          SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. INTERACTIVE PRODUCTS AND
          SERVICES, INC., AND MATTHEW P. BOWIN, United States District
          Court for the Northern District of California, Civil Action No.
          C-98-20313.

          The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission")
          announced that it filed a complaint today in the United States
          District Court for the Northern District of California alleging a
          phony public offering of stock conducted over the Internet.  The
          suit names as defendants Interactive Products and Services, Inc.
          ("IPS"), a purported high-tech start-up company based in Santa
          Cruz County, California, and Matthew P. Bowin ("Bowin"), the
          company's chairman, president, and chief executive officer.

          The stock offering, one of the first conducted entirely over the
          Internet, raised approximately $190,000 from about 150 investors
          nationwide between November 1996 and July 1997.

          In the offering materials, Bowin and IPS represented that all
          offering proceeds would be held in escrow, and would be returned
          to investors if a minimum investment level of $500,000 were not
          reached by the close of the offering.  Instead, the Commission
          alleges, Bowin simply pocketed the offering proceeds and
          converted the money to personal use (buying items from groceries
          to clothing to stereo equipment).  The Commission further charges
          that, despite the failure of the offering to raise the $500,000
          minimum, Bowin refused to return the money to investors; to the
          contrary, Bowin misrepresented to certain investors that the
          offering was successful and that they would be receiving stock
          certificates shortly.

          In addition, the Commission alleges that Bowin and IPS made other
          misrepresentations and omissions in connection with the offering,
          including the following:  (1) failed to disclose that IPS was
          insolvent due to numerous outstanding judgments; (2) touted the
          qualifications of three "advisors" retained by the company who,
          in fact, had no affiliation with IPS; (3) made optimistic
          statements about a pending patent application while failing to
          disclose that the application had been repeatedly rejected; and
          (4) misrepresented that an offering statement relating to the
          securities had been qualified by the Commission.

          The Commission's complaint charges that Bowin and IPS have
          violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities