SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 17769 / October 7, 2002

   SEC v. JESSE HOGAN, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
   Illinois, Civ. Action No. 00C 5637 (N.D. Ill. September 14, 2000)

   The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced today
   that on September 20, 2002, a panel of the British Columbia Securities
   Commission ("BCSC") ordered Jesse Hogan, a Canadian citizen who
   resides in British Columbia, to pay an administrative penalty of
   $25,000 and banned him from trading in or purchasing any security and
   engaging in investor relations for 10 years. The Order was based on
   the previous findings of the panel that Hogan violated Canadian
   securities laws through five Internet "pump and dump" stock price
   manipulations in July and August of 2000. See Re Jesse J. Hogan 2002
   BCSECCOM 811; Re Jesse J. Hogan 2002 BCSECCCOM 537. The panel also
   authorized the staff of the BCSC to apply to the British Columbia
   Supreme Court for an order disgorging $41,752 (U.S.) in total profits
   Hogan derived from the scheme. Previously, on January 15, 2002, the
   U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had
   permanently enjoined Hogan from violating Section 10(b) of the
   Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder as a result
   of his conduct in the stock price manipulations.

   According to the Commission's complaint, Hogan used the same technique
   for each stock manipulation. First, Hogan accumulated a substantial
   position in the stock of a company quoted on the NASDAQ OTC Bulletin
   Board. Hogan then, after the close of the market and through the
   opening of the market the following trading day, used alias screen
   names to post hundreds of messages about the targeted Bulletin Board
   company on Internet message boards and sent numerous e-mails with the
   identical message. The spam postings and e-mails falsely claimed that
   a well-known "blue chip" company would soon acquire the outstanding
   stock of the targeted company at a substantial premium over its
   current market price. The spam postings and e-mails prompted a surge
   in the price and volume of the targeted company's stock. Hogan then
   liquidated his position, selling into the buying surge he created.

   Based on this conduct, the BCSC panel found that "(1) Hogan, with the
   intention of effecting trades in the companies' shares, made
   statements that he knew were misrepresentations, contrary to section
   50(1)(d) of the , RSBC 1996, c. 418; (2) Hogan manipulated the market
   by engaging in a series of transactions relating to trades in and
   acquisition of the companies' shares that he knew would result in
   artificial prices for the shares, contrary to section 57.1(a) of the ,
   RSBC 1996, c. 418; and (3) Hogan's misrepresentations and market
   manipulations seriously impaired the integrity of the capital markets