UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

     Litigation Release No. 15398 / June 26, 1997

     Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release No. 932

     SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. PATRICK R. BENNETT ET AL., 96 CIV.
     2237 (JES)(S.D.N.Y.); SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. KENNETH P.
     KASARJIAN, THE KENTON GROUP, INC. F/K/A KENTON PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT, INC.,
     97 Civ. 2516 (JES)(S.D.N.Y.)

          The Commission announced that six individuals were charged today with
     committing crimes stemming from the massive Ponzi scheme that was allegedly
     perpetrated by The Bennett Funding Group, Inc. ("BFG").  With today's
     actions, brought by the Office of the United States Attorney for the
     Southern District of New York, a total of nine former BFG employees or
     associates have now been indicted for or pled guilty to criminal conduct
     since the Commission filed its first civil action in March 1996.  In the
     March 1996, complaint the Commission charged BFG; Patrick R. Bennett
     ("Patrick Bennett"), BFG's chief financial officer; Bennett Management and
     Development Corporation ("BMDC"); and two BFG subsidiaries with
     fraudulently offering and selling hundreds of millions of dollars of
     equipment leases and promissory notes to several thousand investors.  On
     April 10, 1997, the Commission brought a second civil action charging
     Kenneth P. Kasarjian and a corporation he controlled, the Kenton Group,
     Inc., with fraudulently offering and selling BFG securities through a
     network of broker-dealers.  

          The Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of
     New York announced that a grand jury has indicted the following four
     individuals:

          Patrick R. Bennett was charged with securities fraud, mail fraud, bank
          fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, concealment, perjury,
          obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit perjury and to
          obstruct justice.   

          Michael A. Bennett, formerly the deputy chief executive officer of BFG
          and the brother of Patrick Bennett, was charged with perjury,
          obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit perjury and to
          obstruct justice.   

          Charles Genovese, a former partner in the accounting firm Genovese,
          Levin, Bartlett & Co. and a general partner of various investment
          partnerships that invested in BFG or BMDC, including Hemlock Investor
          Associates, was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, and
          conspiracy to commit perjury and to obstruct justice.  

          Gary Peiffer, an attorney and the sole shareholder of Mutual Investors
          Funding Corporation, Inc., was charged with conspiracy to obstruct
          justice and obstruction of justice.  


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          The Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of
     New York further announced that the following two individuals have pleaded
     guilty to felonies committed in connection with the Commission's
     investigation of the facts surrounding BFG:

          Anthony Pavoni, the president and owner of Scriptex Enterprises, Inc.
          ("Scriptex"), an office equipment dealership and certain of its
          affiliates, pleaded guilty to perjury, obstruction of justice, and
          conspiracy to commit perjury and to obstruct justice.   
      
          Thomas Pomposelli, the chief financial officer of Scriptex, pleaded
          guilty to perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit
          perjury and to obstruct justice.   

          For more information see Litigation Release Nos. 14875, 14991, 15324;
     Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release Nos. 772, 805, and 902.



































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