U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 17602 / July 9, 2002

   United States v. Mitchell H. Cushing, S3 00-CR-1089 (WHP) (S.D.N.Y.)

   On July 3, 2002, former WAMEX Holdings, Inc. ("WAMEX") Chief Executive
   Officer Mitchell H. Cushing was convicted of one count of securities
   fraud, one count of perjury, and one count of conspiracy to commit
   securities fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice in relation to a
   U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") investigation of
   WAMEX. Cushing's conviction was based on his participation in a scheme
   to manipulate the public market for WAMEX stock by, among other
   things, issuing false and misleading press releases concerning WAMEX's
   funding and regulatory approvals to operate its proposed business, an
   Internet-based Alternative Trading System ("ATS"). Cushing and his
   co-conspirators obtained approximately $24 million in profits by
   selling WAMEX stock to the public during the course of the scheme.

   The evidence at trial showed that, in the fall of 1999, Cushing
   entered into an illegal funding agreement with two New York-based
   stock promoters, Roger M. DeTrano and Edward A. Durante. In exchange
   for 19.5 million WAMEX shares, DeTrano and Durante agreed to engage in
   manipulative trading designed to inflate artificially WAMEX's stock
   price, sell the shares to the public at the artificially inflated
   prices, and kick-back a portion of the proceeds to Cushing and WAMEX.
   Cushing assisted DeTrano and Durante in their efforts to drive up
   WAMEX's stock price by providing a steady stream of phony press
   releases on behalf of WAMEX.

   The evidence also showed that Cushing caused WAMEX to make false and
   misleading public announcements concerning millions of dollars in
   funding that had been purportedly raised by WAMEX; WAMEX's attempts to
   obtain regulatory approval to operate its ATS prior to its announced
   July 4, 2000 launch date, which was publicly touted as "Investor
   Independence Day;" and Cushing's supposed vast experience in the
   investment banking industry. In fact, WAMEX had not raised millions of
   dollars in funding and virtually all of the financing it did receive
   was in the form of kickbacks from DeTrano and Durante; WAMEX was not
   involved in any ongoing efforts to obtain regulatory approval to
   operate an ATS; and Cushing's investment banking experience consisted
   of his employment at several notorious boiler rooms that had been shut
   down by regulators in the United States and Austria.

   In early June 2000, Cushing and Russell A. Chimenti, Jr., WAMEX's
   Chief Administrative Officer, were subpoenaed to testify in connection
   with the SEC's investigation of WAMEX. The evidence at trial showed
   that Cushing and Chimenti lied at several points during their