UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 15679 / March 26, 1998 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. JAMIE CHARLES SPANGLER and ROBERT ALBERT MERRIFIELD, 95 CIV 814-A (W.D.N.Y.) The Securities Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that, on March 17, 1998, Judge Richard J. Arcara, of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, entered a Final Judgment of Permanent Injunctive and Other Relief By Consent Against Defendant Jamie Charles Spangler ("Final Judgment"). The Final Judgment, to which Defendant Jamie Charles Spangler ("Spangler") consented without admitting or denying the allegations of the Complaint, permanently enjoins Spangler from committing future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The Judgment did not impose civil penalties based on Spangler's demonstrated inability to pay. The Commission's Complaint, filed on September 20, 1995, alleged that, between February 1991 and June 1992, Spangler and Robert Albert Merrifield ("Merrifield") fraudulently solicited nearly $500,000 from twenty-four unsophisticated investors, almost all of whom were elderly retirees residing in the Buffalo, New York area ("injunctive action"). The Complaint alleged that, in connection with the offer and sale of securities of First Legal and Financial Services, Ltd. and Fedelta gli Immobili la Compagniad' Inc., Spangler made material misrepresentations and omitted to state material facts about the use to which investor funds would be put, the risks of investment, the diversion of funds for personal use, the return on investment, the persons who owned and controlled the companies, and the companies' financial condition. On November 12, 1993, Spangler pled guilty to criminal charges that he violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933. The charges arose out of the same conduct that underlay the Commission's Complaint in the civil injunctive action. On January 27, 1994, Spangler was sentenced to 22 months in prison, three years probation and ordered to pay restitution of $227,686 to eleven of the investors he defrauded. USA v. Jamie Spangler, 93-CR-195-A. As against Defendant Merrifield, the injunctive action was settled on November 27, 1996, when final judgment on consent was entered by the Court. For further information, see Litigation Release Nos. 14645 (September 20, 1995) and 15216 (January 16, 1997). ======END OF PAGE 1======