SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 17338 / January 24, 2002

   SEC FILES CONTEMPT ACTION AGAINST DEFENDANT ACCUSED OF SECURITIES
   FRAUD.

   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. PAUL R. JOHNSON, ET AL., Case
   No. 01-7874-CIV-HURLEY (S.D. Fla.)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that on January
   15, 2002, the SEC filed, with the United States District Court for the
   Southern District of Florida, an Application for an Order to Show
   Cause why Defendant Paul Johnson (Johnson) should not be held in
   contempt for failure to comply with the Court's Orders. The
   application alleged that Johnson failed to provide a sworn accounting
   in accordance with a Court Order entered on December 12, 2001.

   In its Complaint filed on December 12, 2001, the SEC alleged that
   Johnson's company, Link Express Delivery Solutions, Inc. (Link), which
   was based in Deerfield Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and ceased
   operations in March 2000, conducted a series of five fraudulent
   private placement offerings between October 1997 and March 2000,
   raising more than $15.5 million from nearly 400 investors nationwide.
   The Complaint alleged that Johnson and others provided investors and
   potential investors with false and misleading offering documents and
   made material misrepresentations and omissions to investors concerning
   the use of investor funds, Link's projected revenues and anticipated
   returns, Johnson's business experience, and Johnson's control over
   Argus Securities, Inc. (Argus), a broker-dealer that sold certain Link
   securities. The Complaint also alleged that Johnson stole at least
   $2.3 million of investor funds, and spent another $3 million for
   non-Link purposes, which he had commingled with funds fraudulently
   raised from sales of his own unregistered Link stock.

   On December 12, 2001, the Court entered an Order Granting Ex Parte
   Motion for Asset Freeze and Other Emergency Relief against Johnson and
   Relief Defendants J&J Management Consulting (J&J) and Johnson's
   mother, Caterina Johnson. On January 7, 2002, the Court entered an
   Order Granting Motion for Preliminary Injunction of Asset Freeze as to
   Johnson. On January 16, 2002, the Court entered an order extending the
   preliminary injunction to J&J and Caterina Johnson. The Court's Orders
   required Johnson to immediately provide the Court and the SEC with a
   sworn accounting of all monies received from Link. The Orders also
   require Johnson, J&J, and Caterina Johnson to repatriate any offshore
   monies and to provide the SEC and the Court with a written description
   of any repatriated funds.
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