UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 17967 / February 4 , 2003

   SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. BIG COUNTRY AGS, INC. D/B/A AGS,
   INC., ET AL., Defendants, Civil Action No. 3 02-CV-606-L

   SEC OBTAINS $1.9 MILLION JUDGMENT IN CONNECTION WITH FRAUDULENT
   INTERNATIONAL GOLD TRADING SCHEME.

   On January 16, 2003, in an enforcement action filed by the Securities
   and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), the United States District Court for
   the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, entered judgment
   against Godfried Martin Sarpong and his company, Africa Gemstone
   Corporation, for violating the antifraud and securities registration
   provisions of the federal securities laws. Sarpong is a citizen of the
   Republic of Ghana, who resides in London, and Africa Gemstone is a
   Ghanaian corporation with offices in London and Accra, Republic of
   Ghana.

   The court ordered Sarpong and Africa Gemstone, jointly and severally,
   to disgorge unjust profits of $1,105,621, plus prejudgment interest of
   $73,632.59, and the court ordered Sarpong and Africa Gemstone to pay
   civil money penalties of $120,000 and $600,000, respectively. The
   total monetary relief ordered by the court was $1,899,254. The court
   also enjoined Sarpong and Africa Gemstone from offering or selling
   unregistered securities in violation of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the
   Securities Act of 1933, and from committing securities fraud, in
   violation of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section
   10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5
   thereunder.

   The SEC filed the case on March 22, 2002, charging Sarpong, Africa
   Gemstone and others with selling unregistered securities and
   misleading investors in connection with an international gold trading
   deal. According to the Complaint, between February 2000 and January
   2001, the defendants raised over $1.3 million by offering and selling
   unregistered promissory notes to investors in several states. The SEC
   alleged that the defendants assured investors they could liquidate
   their principal upon thirty days notice; promised investors returns of
   five percent to ten percent per month (i.e., 60-120% per annum); and
   promised to earn those returns by using the investors' money to buy
   gold bullion in Ghana and sell it in England at a 12% profit. The SEC
   further alleged that the defendants told investors that the risk of
   the investment was minimal, because of "built-in safety factors," such
   as oversight by the government of Ghana and verification of the
   investment by the defendants. In fact, according to the Complaint,
   those safeguards did not exist, and Sarpong, operating through Africa