U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 14987 / July 23, 1996

Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. A.R. Baron & Co., Inc.,
No. 96-CIV-5171 (S.D.N.Y.); In the Matter of:  A.R. Baron & Co.,
Inc., No. 96-25927 (WTF) (Bankr. D.N.J.); In the Matter of:
Andrew E. Bressman, 96-25926 (WTF) (Bankr. D.N.J.); and In the
Matter of: Roman Okin, 96-25928 (WTF) (Bankr. D.N.J.); In the
Matter of:  A.R. Baron & Co., Inc., No. 96-8831A (PBA) SIPA
(Bankr. S.D.N.Y.)

     The Commission, in cooperation with the Securities Investor
Protection Corporation (SIPC), announced the appointment on July
11, 1996 of James W. Giddens of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP as
trustee to take control and liquidate the assets of A.R. Baron &
Co., Inc., to protect investors.  A.R. Baron, a broker-dealer
headquartered in New York City, and two of its principals, Andrew
Bressman and Roman Okin, had filed for bankruptcy protection
under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code on July 3 and 5, 1996. 
The appointment of the SIPC trustee stays the A.R. Baron
bankruptcy proceeding and places all A.R. Baron assets in the
control of the trustee.  The A.R. Baron bankruptcy proceeding was
removed to the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New
York.  Also on July 11, 1996, the United States Bankruptcy Court
for the District of New Jersey entered consent orders prohibiting
Bressman and Okin from using any property of the bankrupt estates
except upon application to the Bankruptcy Court and notice to the
Commission, and requiring them to file statements of financial
affairs by July 18, 1996, and to submit to an examination by the
Commission staff concerning the debtors' financial condition.  

     The Commission previously ordered an emergency Temporary
Cease and Desist Order and related interim relief, to which A.R.
Baron, Bressman, and Okin consented. The Respondents have now
offered to consent to a Supplemental Order, without admitting or
denying any of its allegations, requiring them to cease and
desist soliciting or effecting transactions for Baron or any
customer in any security, other than liquidating customer
positions while the previously-issued Temporary Cease and Desist
Order is in effect.  

     The Division of Enforcement alleged in its cease-and-desist
proceeding (Admin.  Proc. File No. 3-9010) that, from at least
February 1995, Respondents engaged in egregious fraudulent sales
practices, including:

     ù    Placing unauthorized trades in customer accounts;

     ù    Refusing to carry out customer sell orders;

     ù    Refusing or delaying to remit proceeds of sales of
          securities to customers;
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     ù    Opening accounts for customers without the customers'
          authorization; and

     ù    Placing margin transactions in customer accounts
          without the customers' authorization.

These practices, it is alleged, are the subject of numerous
recent customer complaints, involving nearly $17 million in
securities.