UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 17551 / June 10, 2002

   United States v. Johann M. Smith, No. 1 00CR00094-001 (S.D. IN);

   United States v. Constance Brooks-Kiefer, No. 1 00CR00093-001 (S.D.
   IN)

   The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that
   on May 24, the Honorable John D. Tinder, United States District Judge
   for the Southern District of Indiana, sentenced Johann M. Smith
   (Smith) and Constance Brooks-Kiefer (Brooks-Kiefer), both residents of
   Indianapolis, Indiana, for their involvement in a $29 million Ponzi
   scheme. Judge Tinder sentenced Smith to three years and one month in
   prison and ordered him to pay $11.7 million in restitution. Judge
   Tinder sentenced Brooks-Kiefer to six months of home detention and
   imposed a fine of $3,000. Smith, founder of JMS Investment Group, LLC
   (JMS) and former attorney for Heartland Financial Services, Inc.
   (Heartland), previously pled guilty to two counts of mail fraud and
   one count of unlawfully structuring currency transactions.
   Brooks-Kiefer, former administrative assistant of Heartland, pled
   guilty to one count of unlawfully structuring currency transactions.
   Judge Tinder previously sentenced two other defendants Kenneth R.
   Payne (Payne) to seventeen years and seven months in prison and Daniel
   G. Danker (Danker) to 71 months in prison (See Litigation Release Nos.
   17049 and 17492). The criminal case was prosecuted by the U.S.
   Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana.

   Smith, Brooks-Kiefer, Payne and Danker are also defendants in a civil
   action, SEC v. Payne, et al., filed by the SEC on August 10, 2000, to
   halt the Ponzi scheme. Judge Tinder, on August 10, 2000, entered a
   temporary restraining order and asset freeze in that case against
   Payne, Danker, Heartland, JMS, Smith and Brooks-Kiefer. Judge Tinder
   entered an order of permanent injunction against Smith on November 16,
   2000, and an order of preliminary injunction against Brooks-Kiefer on
   August 21, 2000. This litigation is ongoing. (For more information
   concerning the SEC's action, see Litigation Release Nos. and ).
     _________________________________________________________________

Modified 06/10/2002