SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                                   Washington, D.C.


     LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 15612 / January 8, 1998

     SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. THE TRUST GROUP, LTD.,
     ET AL., Civil Action No. 95-5 (E.D.Ky.)

          The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that
     the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky
     entered Final Judgments of Permanent Injunction against defendants The
     Trust Group, Ltd. ("TTG"), Jeffrey M. Mortiz, Sandra L. Kalez, Laurent M.
     Gerschel, and T. Robert Hughes on December 30, 1997.  The Court also
     ordered the defendants to pay, jointly and severally, a $50,000 civil
     penalty. As previously announced, the Commission alleged in its Complaint
     that the defendants had defrauded investors by offering investments of tens
     of millions of dollars in a so-called "roll program" administered by
     defendant TTG, through which the defendants purported to trade bank
     debentures, notes, guarantees, and stand-by letters of credit, purportedly
     issued by the leading world "prime banks."  The Commission further alleged
     that the defendants had represented to prospective investors that their
     "roll program" would yield an annual return on investment of at least 48%
     with a level of risk that was "consistent with proven, prudent trust
     portfolio management, and/or pension fund guidelines."  The Commission
     alleged that, in fact, the defendants had no "roll program" or other
     investment program.

          The defendants consented to the entry of the permanent injunctions and
     civil penalty without admitting or denying the allegations in the
     Complaint. The injunctions prohibit the defendants from violating 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, which are the principal
     antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. (For further
     information, see Litigation Release No. 14382, January 17, 1995.)
















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