UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Rel. No. 17652 / August 2, 2002

          Commission Obtains Temporary Restraining Order and Asset

   Freeze Against Purported Bond Trader Claude Lefebvre, Former Broker
   Dennis Herula, and Others in Connection with Fraudulent Offering
   Scheme

   The Commission announced today that it has obtained temporary
   restraining orders and asset freezes in a civil fraud action filed
   against Claude Lefebvre, a purported bond trader, Dennis Herula, a
   former Rhode Island broker, and others. The Commission's complaint,
   filed July 31 in San Francisco federal district court, alleges that
   Lefebvre, Herula and others participated in a fraudulent scheme that
   raised at least $40 million from investors within the past month. One
   of the investors is an entity owned or controlled by members of the
   Coors family, founders of the Adolph Coors Company. The court's order,
   issued August 1, froze at least $36 million held in various brokerage
   accounts controlled by the defendants.

   The Commission alleges in its complaint that Lefebvre falsely promised
   investors exorbitant returns, such as a 100% return per week, through
   a fraudulent prime bank trading program that purportedly invested in
   bank or other financial institution instruments rated AA or better.
   Lefebvre also falsely claimed that he was federally licensed to trade
   such instruments. According to the Commission's complaint, these
   representations were false because prime bank trading programs are
   wholly fictitious. The Commission's complaint alleges that Lefebvre
   acted through two entities owned or controlled by him and/or Herula
   RMO Assets Management and Watch Hill Capital Management -- and that
   Herula aided and abetted Lefebvre's violations of the federal
   securities laws. The complaint further alleges that, within the past
   several weeks, Lefebvre, Herula, and Herula's wife, Rhode Island
   attorney Mary Lee Capalbo, spent at least $4 million in investor funds
   on luxury items such as cars, jewelry, and large hotel bills. They
   also used the money to pay personal expenses, such as doctor's bills
   and Capalbo's Rhode Island bar association fees.

   Herula and Capalbo are defendants in a prior action filed by the
   Commission in Rhode Island federal district court on April 1, 2002. In
   that case, which involved a separate prime bank investment scheme, the
   court entered preliminary injunctions against Herula, Capalbo and
   others, restraining them from violating the antifraud provisions of
   the securities laws or accepting investor funds. The Commission
   alleges that Herula and Capalbo engaged in the activity involving the
   new fraudulent scheme at a time when they were already subject to the