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U. S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 14675 / October 2, 1995 

SEC v. Louis Bethune, Charles Howard and John Jackson, U.S.D.C.,
N.D. Alabama, Civil Action File No. CV95-B2509-S (September 29,
1995).

    The United States Securities and Exchange Commission
("Commission") announced that on September 29,1995, a complaint
was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of Alabama seeking to permanently enjoin Louis Bethune
("Bethune"), Charles Howard ("Howard") and John Jackson
("Jackson") from further violations of the antifraud provisions
of the federal securities laws.  Bethune and Howard are longtime
residents of Birmingham.  Jackson is the mayor of a White Hall, a
small town in central Alabama.  The complaint alleges that the
defendants participated in a fraudulent scheme to pledge $300
million in revenue bonds purportedly issued by the Redevelopment
Authority of White Hall ("Authority") in an attempt to obtain a
$255 million margin loan from a Sarasota, Florida office of Smith
Barney, Inc. ("Smith Barney").  The complaint also alleges that
prime bank securities do not exist and that all series of the
bonds issued by the Authority contained multiple
misrepresentations, including fundamental misrepresentations that
the bonds were "Bank Guaranteed," and that they were backed by
"Prime Bank Securities, issued by a an acceptable institution in
good standing, rated AA+ or higher by Standard & Poors."  The
complaint seeks a permanent injunction, an order imposing civil
monetary penalties on the defendants and other equitable relief.