-------------------- BEGINNING OF PAGE #1 ------------------- U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 14717 / November 9, 1995 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. KEYPOINT FINANCIAL CORPORATION and MICHAEL R. WARREN, Civil Action No. 95-6542 KN (Ex) (C.D. Cal.) The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that on October 31, 1995, the United States District Court for the Central District of California, entered a Judgment, which, among other things: (1) permanently enjoins Keypoint Financial Corporation ("Keypoint") and Michael R. Warren ("Warren") from future violations of Section 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 204, 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940; and (2) orders Keypoint and Warren to disgorge all investor funds, together with prejudgment interest. Keypoint and Warren consented to the entry of the Order without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's Complaint. The Complaint alleges that from approximately January 1991 through at least December 1992, Keypoint, a registered investment adviser, located in Los Angeles, through its principal and sole control person, Warren, advised seven of Keypoint's clients to invest $638,768 in purported insurance company annuity contracts. The Complaint alleges that the three insurance companies that, according to Keypoint and Warren purportedly issued the annuity contracts, have denied that Warren was an authorized agent to sell their insurance products and that they issued annuity contracts through Warren. Additionally, the Complaint alleges that Warren and Keypoint misappropriated client funds by, among other things, writing checks to themselves and to various businesses that Warren controls. Further, the Complaint alleges that from July 1991 through at least December 1991, Keypoint, through Warren, offered and sold real estate mortgage limited partnership units to two clients, raising $45,000. The Complaint alleges that Warren and Keypoint misappropriated client funds for the benefit of themselves or their affiliated businesses. Finally, the Complaint alleges that when Commission representatives attempted to examine and inspect Keypoint's books and records relating to its advisory business, Warren failed to respond or to produce such documents to the Commission, as required by statute.