U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 19739 / June 23, 2006

SEC v. T. Gene Gilman, Steven A. Gilman, Arbor Securities, Ltd., and Financial Links, Inc., Defendants, and TradeTek, Ltd. and Commonwealth Financial Holdings, Inc., Relief Defendants, Civil Action No. 05-10512-REK (D. Mass.).

On June 19, 2006, the Honorable William G. Young, U. S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, entered a default judgment as to defendants T. Gene Gilman ("G. Gilman"), Steven A. Gilman ("S. Gilman"), Arbor Securities, Ltd. ("Arbor Securities"), and Financial Links, Inc.("Financial Links"), and entered a default judgment as to relief defendants TradeTek, Ltd. ("TradeTek") and Commonwealth Financial Holdings, Inc.("Commonwealth"). The order restrained and enjoined the defendants from future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act"), and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The order enjoined G. Gilman and S. Gilman from aiding and abetting violations of Sections 15(a) and 15(c) of the Exchange Act and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ("Advisers Act"). The order enjoined Arbor Securities from future violations of 15(a) of the Exchange Act and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Advisers Act, and enjoined Financial Links from future violations of Section 15(c) of the Exchange Act. The Court ordered the defendants to pay joint and several disgorgement and prejudgment interest in the respective amounts of $14,000,000 and $1,681,718.26. The Court ordered TradeTek to pay jointly and severally with the defendants $9,000,000 in disgorgement and $1,081,104.57 in prejudgment interest. The Court ordered Commonwealth to pay jointly and severally with the defendants $200,000 in disgorgement and $24,024.57 in prejudgment interest. The Court imposed civil penalties against G. Gilman and S. Gilman in the amount of $100,000 each, and imposed civil penalties against Arbor Securities and Financial Links in the amount of $600,000 each.

The Commission's complaint, filed on March 17, 2005, alleged that G. Gilman represented he would establish individual brokerage accounts for customers at Arbor Securities, an alleged offshore brokerage firm operated from his office in Needham, Massachusetts, and would use clients' funds to trade in the stocks of publicly traded U. S. companies. G. Gilman and S. Gilman instead transferred the funds into several foreign and domestic bank and brokerage accounts in the names of Arbor Securities, including accounts at Financial Links. From those accounts, S. Gilman transferred customer funds to himself, to G. Gilman, and to private companies controlled by G. Gilman, including TradeTek and Commonwealth. The complaint alleged that to conceal these transfers S. Gilman generated and sent to customers fictitious brokerage account statements which, among other things, misrepresented cash balances and falsely stated that transactions in the accounts took place when in fact they did not. The complaint alleged that TradeTek and Commonwealth were unjustly enriched when they obtained customer funds to which those companies had no legitimate claim.

See also: Litigation Release No. 19144 (March 17, 2005)