UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Before the
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Release No. 46945 / December 4, 2002

Administrative Proceeding
File No. 3-10959

I.

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") deems it appropriate and in the public interest that public administrative proceedings be, and hereby are, instituted pursuant to Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") against Thomas E. Hall ("Hall").

II.

In anticipation of the institution of these proceedings, Hall has submitted an Offer of Settlement (the "Offer") which the Commission has determined to accept. Solely for the purpose of these proceedings and any other proceedings brought by or on behalf of the Commission, or to which the Commission is a party, and without admitting or denying the findings herein, except as to the Commission's jurisdiction over him and the subject matter of these proceedings, and the findings contained in Section III.2 below, which are admitted, Hall consents to the entry of this Order Instituting Proceedings, Making Findings and Imposing Remedial Sanctions Pursuant to Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Order"), as set forth below.

III.

On the basis of this Order and Hall's Offer, the Commission finds that:

1. From 1985 through 2002, Hall was a registered representative for a broker-dealer registered with the Commission as a broker-dealer.
    
2. On November 21, 2002, in the case of SEC v. Thomas E. Hall, et al. (File No. CV 02-4213 JRT/FLN), the United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, entered an Order of Permanent Injunction against Hall, pursuant to his consent and without Hall admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's Complaint, enjoining Hall from violating Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, and ordering Hall to pay a civil penalty of $50,000. The complaint alleged that from at least January 1998 through September 2001, Hall and his customer perpetrated a fraudulent scheme to "mark the close" or artificially increase the closing price of the common stock of a NASDAQ traded security.

IV.

In view of the foregoing, the Commission deems it appropriate and in the public interest to impose the sanctions specified in Respondent Hall's Offer.

Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Respondent Thomas E. Hall be, and hereby is, barred from association with any broker or dealer.

By the Commission.

Jonathan G. Katz
Secretary

http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/34-46945.htm