UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

     Litigation Release No. 15628 / January 28, 1998

     Securities and Exchange Commission v. J.W. Korth & Co. and James Wilder
     Korth., Case No. 97-0280-Civ-Ungaro-Benages (USDC/SD FL)

          The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced that on
     January 22, 1998, the Honorable Ursula Ungaro-Benages, United States
     District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, granted the SEC's
     motion and entered summary judgment against J.W. Korth & Co., a Miami,
     Florida broker-dealer, and its president James Wilder Korth.  The judge
     ruled that Korth and his firm violated the securities laws by repeatedly
     refusing to give the SEC the serial numbers for defaulted pre-World War II
     German Bonds they were selling.  The SEC had alleged that Korth was hiding
     the information from it and that, without the numbers, the SEC could not
     determine whether sales of the bonds violated the federal securities laws.

          Earlier in the case, the SEC had sought and obtained a temporary
     restraining order ("TRO") ordering Korth to give the SEC the numbers. 
     Korth refused to do so, and was quoted in a Miami Herald article as saying
     that he "was going to stand firm and not produce any numbers."  Korth
     finally turned over the numbers after a February 1997 hearing during which
     the judge granted the SEC's request for a preliminary injunction and
     ordered him to do so or face a contempt citation.

          In entering final judgment against Korth and his firm, the judge noted
     that they had "failed to comply with the TRO, openly and publicly defied
     it, and only turned over the numbers after the Court indicated its view
     that those actions were contumacious and that civil and criminal contempt
     citations were imminent."  Based on their violation of the law and this
     conduct, the judge permanently enjoined Korth and the firm from future
     violations of the relevant provision, Section 17 of the Securities Exchange
     Act of 1934, and imposed first-tier penalties of $55,000 and $5,500 on the
     firm and Korth respectively.

          The case appears to be the first time a broker-dealer has been
     penalized for failing to comply with the SEC's statutory examination
     powers.  In her opinion, the judge recognized the SEC's vital role in
     regulating the securities markets, and ruled that the SEC right to examine
     a registered broker-dealer is "central to the execution of [its] congress-
     ionally-mandated regulatory duties."  As such, the judge ruled that the
     SEC's examination powers are subject only to reasonable time, place and
     manner restrictions.