UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

     Litigation Release No. 15427 / August 1, 1997

     SEC v. Robert L. Gray, 97 Civ. 5732 (LAK) (S.D.N.Y. August 1, 1997)

          The Commission announced that it filed a Complaint today in the
     federal district court in Manhattan, charging a convicted felon, who
     unlawfully acted as an unregistered investment adviser, with, among other
     things, misappropriating more than $139,000 of his advisory clients' funds,
     and with causing more than $1.2 million in losses to a brokerage firm by
     failing to pay for securities transactions that he had ordered.  

     Named in the Complaint is:

          Robert L. Gray ("Gray"), age 49, whose last known residence is in
          Bellerose, New York.  Gray was barred from the securities industry by
          the National Association of Securities Dealers in 1977, convicted in
          New York in 1989, and convicted in New Jersey in 1993, for
          misappropriation of funds. 

          The Complaint alleges that, from in or about January 1993 through in
     or about June 1996, Gray, while acting as an unregistered investment
     adviser:  (a) misappropriated over $139,000 from his advisory clients; (b)
     made material misrepresentations to clients concerning their investments to
     conceal his misappropriation; (c) engaged in free-riding at the expense of
     a registered broker-dealer through which Gray effected client trades; (d)
     failed to maintain required investment advisory records; (e) failed to
     furnish clients with required written disclosure statements; (f) entered
     into advisory contracts that unlawfully provided for performance-based
     compensation and did not prohibit assignment of the contracts without
     client consent; (g) failed to adhere to the rules governing treatment of
     client funds in an adviser's custody; and (h) failed to disclose his
     disciplinary and criminal history to his clients.

          As a result of the foregoing, the Commission alleges that Gray
     violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-
     5, and Sections 203(a), 204, 205(a)(1) and (2), and 206(1), (2) and (4) of
     the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and Rules 204-2, 204-3, 206(4)-2 and
     206(4)-4.  

          The Commission seeks a final judgment permanently enjoining Gray from
     future violations of these provisions, ordering him to disgorge his ill-
     gotten gains, plus prejudgment interest, and ordering him to pay civil
     penalties.

          The litigation is pending. 












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