SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

     LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 15406 / July 7, 1997

     UNITED STATES v. BARRY L. KING (United States District Court for the
     District of Massachusetts C.A. No. 95-10220NMG)

          The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced
that,
     on July 1, 1997, Barry L. King ("King"), formerly of Wellesley,
     Massachusetts and presently residing in Boca Raton, Florida, was
sentenced
     by the Hon. Nathaniel M. Gorton, United States District Court for the
     District of Massachusetts, to serve a term of 46 months in federal
prison,
     followed by a three-year term of supervised release.  In addition,
Judge
     Gorton ordered King to pay restitution of $8,724,656 to defrauded
     investors, representing their losses as a result of a fraudulent
mortgage
     pooling scheme.  King was prohibited from incurring new credit charges
or
     opening new lines of credit unless he is current in making
restitution
     payments pursuant to a schedule to be determined by the U.S.
Probation
     Office.  King was also barred from seeking employment in a financial
     position that would incur third-party risk.

          On March 4, 1997, King pleaded guilty to 32 counts of mail fraud
     relating to a Ponzi scheme and one count of bankruptcy fraud for
concealing
     his assets in a bankruptcy proceeding.  The indictment alleged that,
     between late 1986 and 1989, King solicited over $11 million from
former
     clients, many of whom were elderly, to invest their monies in secured
     mortgages in return for guaranteed interest payments.  Contrary to
his
     representations, King pooled the investor funds and loaned their money
to
     non-creditworthy borrowers on distressed properties.  The indictment
also
     alleged that King kept his mortgage investment scheme afloat by using