==========================================START OF PAGE 1======

                SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                         Washington D.C.


Litigation Release No. 15348 / April 24, 1997


SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. JOSEPH C. KANE, JR.,
97 Civ. 2931 (CBM) (S.D.N.Y.)


     The Commission announced that it filed a Complaint today in
federal court in Manhattan charging a registered representative
with defrauding his customers by either misappropriating or
investing without authorization nearly $600,000 of his customers'
cash or securities.

Named in the Complaint is:

     Joseph C. Kane, Jr., age 41, who is a resident of Greenwich,
     Connecticut and who is currently employed by Laidlaw
     Equities, Inc. ("Laidlaw").  During the time of the events
     alleged in the Complaint, Joseph C. Kane, Jr. was a
     registered representative employed by Laidlaw and, before
     that, was a registered representative at the White Plains,
     New York office of Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.

     The Complaint alleges that Joseph C. Kane, Jr., whose
violative conduct occurred between January 1989 and April 1996,
forged the signatures of certain of these customers, fabricated
confirmation statements, and made other materially false and
misleading statements to the defrauded customers to conceal his
misconduct.  According to the Complaint, on at least one
occasion, Joseph C. Kane, Jr. repaid one defrauded customer with
funds he fraudulently obtained from another customer.

     As a result of the foregoing, the Commission alleges that
Joseph C. Kane, Jr. violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act
of 1933, and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
and Rule 10b-5.  The Commission seeks a Final Judgment
permanently enjoining Joseph C. Kane, Jr. from future violations
of these antifraud provisions.  In addition, the Commission
seeks: (i) a verified accounting of all misappropriated funds;
(ii) disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains, plus prejudgment
interest thereon; and (iii) civil penalties.

     The litigation is pending.