United States Securities and Exchange Commission
  
  Litigation Release No. 15936 / October 15, 1998
  
  SEC v. TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. and Thomas A.
  Nelson, N.D. Ill., Case Number 98 C 5918, filed September
  22, 1998
  
  The Commission announced the entry of Orders and Final
  Judgments of Permanent Injunction and Other Equitable
  Relief (Orders) against TAN Books and Publishers, Inc.
  (TAN), and Thomas A. Nelson (Nelson), President of TAN.
  The Orders, entered on October 2, 1998 by the United
  States District Court for the Northern District of
  Illinois, permanently enjoin TAN and Nelson from future
  violations of the registration and antifraud provisions
  of the federal securities laws and impose a $15,000 civil
  penalty against Nelson. TAN and Nelson consented to the
  entry of the Orders without admitting or denying the
  allegations made in the Commission's Complaint, which was
  filed on September 22, 1998. The Orders enjoin TAN and
  Nelson from violating Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of
  the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the
  Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5
  thereunder.
  
  In its Complaint, the Commission alleged that, from 1993
  through 1996, TAN raised more than $10 million by selling
  unregistered promissory notes to more than 1000 investors
  nationwide through the TAN Loan Program. The Commission
  alleged that Nelson and TAN misrepresented the safety and
  liquidity of an investment in the Loan Program, as well
  as the use of Loan Program proceeds, in offering
  materials sent to Loan Program investors. In particular,
  TAN and Nelson claimed that TAN could repay an investment
  in the Loan Program on short notice when, in fact, it
  could not do so at all and that the value of TAN's
  inventory exceeded what it owed to Loan Program
  participants when, in fact, the value of the inventory
  was only a fraction of what was owed under the Loan
  Program. The Commission also alleged that TAN and Nelson
  told Loan Program participants that a portion of the loan
  proceeds would be used by TAN to purchase a new
  headquarters building when those proceeds actually were
  given to Nelson himself to buy the building and rent the
  building to TAN. TAN, headquartered in Rockford,
  Illinois, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December
  1996 and now operates under a plan of reorganization.