U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 15244 / February 4, 1997

Securities and Exchange Commission v. J.W. Korth & Co. and James
Wilder Korth., Case No. 97-0280-Civ-Ungaro-Benages (USDC/SD FL)

     The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") announced
that on February 4, 1997, it filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of Florida against J.W.
Korth & Co. ("JWK" or the "firm"), a registered broker-dealer
which has been offering and selling to the public defaulted pre-
World War II German Gold Bonds (the "German Bonds").  JWK,
headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, is conducting its
German Bond business from its branch office in Miami, Florida. 
James Wilder Korth ("Korth"), JWK's president, age 46 of Coconut
Grove, Florida, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

     The suit seeks, among other relief (described-below), an
emergency temporary restraining order directing JWK and Korth to
immediately turn over to the SEC certain records relating to the
German Bonds.  The SEC's complaint and supporting papers allege
that JWK, under Korth's direction, has repeatedly refused to give
the SEC true and complete copies of records containing the
certificate numbers for these German Bonds in violation of
Sections 17(a)(1) and 17(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 ("Exchange Act") and Rule and 17a-4(j) thereunder.  The SEC
charges that Korth violated these provisions as an aider and
abettor, pursuant to Section 20(f) of the Exchange Act.  The SEC
alleges that the defendants' "willful defiance of the law has
interfered with the SEC's well-settled powers to examine the
books and records of a registered broker-dealer" and has hindered
the SEC's efforts to determine whether their offering of the
German Bonds violates other provisions of the federal securities
laws.

     According to its complaint, the SEC has received preliminary
information tending to indicate that the vast majority of the
German Bonds currently in circulation may be invalid and
unredeemable.  The SEC's supporting papers reflect that the
German Government has established an elaborate procedure for
redeeming the Bonds, one element of which requires the bondholder
to prove that the Bond had not been previously stolen.  According
to the SEC, the German Government takes the position that the
vast majority of the German Bonds are no longer valid for
redemption because they were either stolen, previously exchanged
for new debt instruments, or were kept in the Russian-occupied
territory of Berlin after World War II and subsequently came into
circulation.

     Accordingly, the SEC stresses that investors and those who
may advise them, particularly broker-dealers and investment
advisors, should be keenly aware of the German Government's
position regarding the potential invalidity of these Bonds.





     In addition to an emergency Order directing JWK and Korth to
provide certain records relating to the German Bonds, the SEC is
seeking in its lawsuit an Order preventing the destruction of
records, preliminary and permanent injunctions, and a civil
penalty.