SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                                   Washington, D.C.

          Litigation Release No. 15681 / March 25, 1998

          SEC  v.  Brennan,  Adv.  Pro.  No. 97-3612 (KCF), In re Robert E.
          Brennan, Case No. 95-35502(KCF) (U.S. Bankr. Ct. D.N.J.)

          The Securities and Exchange Commission  announced  today  that on
          March  24, 1998, The Honorable Kathryn C. Ferguson, United States
          Bankruptcy  Judge  for  the  District  of New Jersey, granted its
          motion for summary judgment against Robert  E.  Brennan  and held
          that  the  Commission's  $75  million  securities  fraud judgment
          cannot  be  discharged in Brennan's bankruptcy.  The Court  ruled
          that, as the  principal of First Jersey Securities, Inc., Brennan
          owed a fiduciary  duty  to  First  Jersey's  customers,  which he
          willfully  violated  by  presiding  over  a  fraudulent scheme to
          extract  massive  overcharges  from them.  Therefore,  the  Court
          agreed with the Commission that  its  judgment  was excepted from
          discharge  in bankruptcy under the exception for debts  resulting
          from a defalcation  by  a fiduciary.  Because of this ruling, the
          Court deemed it unnecessary  to rule on the other ground asserted
          by the Commission to except its  judgment  from discharge -- that
          the judgment is a debt for money obtained by fraud, but indicated
          that  she  would  rule  on  this  issue  if Brennan  successfully
          appealed her ruling on the fiduciary defalcation claim.

          The  Court  also  denied  Brennan's  cross-motion   for   summary
          judgment, which had contended that the Commission lacked standing
          even  to  bring  an  action to except its judgment from discharge
          because the Commission was not the party to whom the disgorgement
          was to be paid.  The Court  rejected this argument as contrary to
          the language of the Bankruptcy  Code  as  well  as  to the public
          policy  goals  served  by Commission actions for disgorgement  to
          enforce the federal securities laws and protect public investors.

          Brennan filed bankruptcy in August 1995, in response to the entry
          of judgment against him  by  the United States District Court for
          the Southern District of New York,  which  found  him  liable for
          orchestrating   a   massive  and  continuing  fraud  against  the
          customers of First Jersey  Securities,  and  held him jointly and
          severally liable with First Jersey for disgorgement of $75 million.
          In December 1996, the Second Circuit Court of  Appeals upheld the
          disgorgement  judgment,  and in October 1997, the  Supreme  Court
          denied Brennan's petition  for  certiorari.   In  June  1997, the
          Bankruptcy Court, on the Commission's motion, ousted Brennan from
          his status as debtor-in-possession and ordered the appointment of
          a  Chapter  11  trustee,  finding  such  action to be in the best
          interests  of  the  creditors  of his estate.    The  Trustee  is
          charged with liquidating claims  and assets, managing the various
          Brennan   interests,   and  investigating   possibly   fraudulent
          transfers.

          For further information, see Litigation Release No. 14536 .