UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

     LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 15394 / June 25, 1997

     SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. MARK E. GATCH AND HENRY BENJAMIN
     SCHMIDT, Case No. C-1-97-599 (SSB) (S.D. Ohio, W.D.)

          The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the filing of a
     complaint on June 24, 1997 in United States District Court for the Southern
     District of Ohio, Western Division, alleging a Ponzi scheme operated by Ben
     Mar Investments, Inc. ("Ben Mar"), a defunct unregistered investment
     adviser based in Florence, Kentucky.  Named as defendants were:

          *    Mark E. Gatch ("Gatch"), age 39, a resident of Amelia, Ohio and
               the co-founder, president, and chief financial officer of Ben
               Mar;

          *    Henry Benjamin Schmidt ("Schmidt"), age 63, a resident of
               Crestview Hills, Kentucky, and St. Petersburg, Florida, and the
               co-founder and owner of Ben Mar.

     The Commission's Complaint alleges as follows:
       
          From February 1992 through March 1995, Gatch and Schmidt, through Ben
     Mar, raised approximately $19.5 million from at least 365 investors by
     selling unregistered promissory notes that promised interest based on the
     performance of an investment pool managed by Ben Mar (the "Ben Mar Fund"). 
     The investors were located in Kentucky, Ohio, Florida, and other states. 
     In soliciting investors, Gatch and Schmidt told investors that they could
     expect to earn profits on their investment of 4% to 5% per month, based on
     past performance.  Gatch also made false representations concerning his
     trading strategy and the risks of that strategy.  Contrary to these
     representations, Gatch's trading consistently resulted in substantial
     losses.  Gatch concealed these losses, and maintained the illusion of
     trading profits, by using the funds of existing investors and new investors
     to repay principal and pay purported profits.  By the time the scheme came
     to light, investors had lost approximately $12.2 million, including
     approximately $4 million that Gatch and Schmidt took for themselves. 

          Gatch, who handled all of Ben Mar's trading and accounting and has
     pleaded guilty to criminal wire fraud based upon his role in the scheme,
     United States v. Mark E. Gatch, Case No. 96-90 (WOB) (E.D. Ky., Mar. 17,
     1997), made material misrepresentations and omitted material facts to Ben
     Mar investors, illegally sold unregistered securities of Ben Mar (the
     promissory notes), and failed to comply with the registration and custody
     provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.  Schmidt solicited Ben
     Mar investors and repeated Gatch's false performance claims.  Schmidt,
     however, failed to investigate the performance claims and failed to take
     any steps to monitor Gatch's activities or verify his statements of the
     holdings or performance of the Fund.  In addition to the fraud on investors
     in the Ben Mar Fund -- which was an unregistered investment company --
     Gatch and Schmidt defrauded several other advisory clients of Ben Mar.  
               The Complaint charges both defendants with violating or aiding
     and abetting violations of Sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act of
     1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5
     thereunder, and Sections 203(a), 206(1), 206(2) and 206(4) of the Advisers
     Act and Rule 206(4)-2 thereunder, and seeks permanent injunctive relief, a
     civil penalty against Gatch, and the fixing of the amount of disgorgement,
     prejudgment interest thereon, and a civil penalty to be paid by Schmidt. 


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     The Complaint does not charge Ben Mar, which is in liquidation.  In re Ben
     Mar Investments, Inc., No. 95-11121 (Bankr. S.D. Ohio W.D. 1995)



























































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