SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 17178 / OCTOBER 11, 2001

   SEC SUES TWENTY-SIX ENTITIES AND INDIVIDUALS IN $30 MILLION MARKET
   MANIPULATION SCHEME

   The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it filed a
   complaint in the federal District Court for the Southern District of
   New York against WAMEX Holdings, Inc. ("WAMX"), a New York-based
   company with purported plans to operate an Alternative Trading System
   ("ATS"); Mitchell H. Cushing, WAMX's former CEO; Russell A. Chimenti,
   Jr., WAMX's former Chief Administrative Officer; Edward A. Durante, a
   stock promoter residing in Gardiner, New York; Roger M. DeTrano, a
   consultant hired by WAMX; Trevor Koenig, a former broker residing in
   British Columbia, Canada; Charles R. Eisenstein, of Brooklyn, New
   York; Alfred Peeper, a resident of Spain; Eugene C. Geiger, a former
   broker residing in Colorado; Heartland Capital ("Heartland"), a
   California-based investment firm; Scott Cameron, the owner of
   Heartland, residing in British Columbia, Canada; Roger H. Chlowitz,
   David Weiss, and Bruce M. Millstein, all of whom are California
   residents and former employees of Heartland; and certain foreign
   entities that were either involved in, or received proceeds from, the
   fraudulent scheme.

   The Commission's Complaint alleges that from December 1999 through
   June 2000, the Defendants engaged in a market-manipulation scheme
   which drove WAMX's stock price from $1.375 per share to an all-time
   high of $19.50 per share. The complaint alleges that as a result of
   this scheme, WAMX's market capitalization grew from $250,000 to over
   $185 million, allowing Durante and his cohorts to dump 6.9 million
   WAMX shares into the market for profits of over $24 million. In
   addition, the complaint alleges the following
     * In late 1999, Durante, DeTrano, Cushing, and Chimenti devised a
       scheme to raise capital for WAMX by manipulating the public market
       for WAMX stock. To further the scheme, DeTrano transferred
       millions of WAMX shares to Durante-controlled nominee accounts at
       Union Securities, Ltd., a Canadian brokerage firm. Durante then
       instructed Koenig, his broker for these accounts, to execute a
       series of manipulative public trades to create artificial price
       increases in WAMX stock.
     * DeTrano, Cushing, and Chimenti made false public statements
       through press releases, SEC filings, and Internet publications
       concerning, among other things approximately $6.9 million in
       funding that WAMX had supposedly raised "from a private Investment
       Group"; WAMX's ability to legally operate an ATS; and the
       purportedly "extensive experience" of Cushing and Chimenti in the
       investment banking industry. In fact WAMX had only received a