SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                         Washington, D.C.


Litigation Release No. 14914 / May 21, 1996

SEC v. THE BETTER LIFE CLUB OF AMERICA, INC., AND ROBERT N.
TAYLOR, United States District Court for the District of
Columbia, Civ. No. 96-149 (TFH).

     On May 16, 1996, Judge Thomas F. Hogan granted the
Commission's motion to hold defendant Robert N. Taylor's
Baltimore-based accountant, Wilkins McNair, Jr., CPA, P.C., in
civil contempt and ordered McNair to pay $380,455 to the court-
appointed special administrator pending a final resolution of the
Commission's underlying action against Taylor and the Better Life
Club.  These funds represent "retainer" and other payments that
McNair received from Taylor during the spring and summer of 1995,
but had not earned as of September 1, 1995, the date the court
entered an order freezing Taylor's and the Better Life Club's
assets.  See SEC Lit. Rel. No. 14624 (Sept. 5, 1995).  The monies
to be repaid by McNair will be added to the approximately $2.7
million being held by the special administrator to compensate
investor losses in the event that the Commission prevails in its
action.

     In a written decision, Judge Hogan found that during the
summer of 1995, a period during which Taylor paid McNair $450,000
in fees and retainers, McNair was "aware of the SEC's
investigation and the potential for an asset freeze."  Although
some of McNair's retainer agreements specified that the payments
were "nonrefundable," the court invalidated those provisions as
against public policy, finding that they "were designed, at least
in part, to shield some of Taylor's assets from potential seizure
by the SEC."  Judge Hogan said that these provisions "limit[] the
SEC's ability to make investors whole if the illegal Ponzi scheme
nature of Taylor's operation is established."

     As an alternative basis for ordering McNair to return the
unearned fees, the court held that McNair was not a "bona fide
purchaser for value" of the funds, since his mere promise to
perform future services did not constitute "value" given in
exchange for the funds.

     Finally, Judge Hogan ruled that if McNair wishes to assert
that he is financially unable to repay the $380,455, he shall
submit a detailed affidavit by May 30, 1996, explaining his
inability to pay, and the court will thereafter hold an
evidentiary hearing to consider the appropriate course of action.