FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  2000-175
                                
 James Adelman, Associate District Administrator for the Boston
   District Office, to Leave SEC After Nine Years of Service                               

     Washington, DC, November 20, 2000 - - James B. Adelman,
Associate District Administrator for the Securities and Exchange
Commission's Boston District Office, today announced that he will
leave the Commission to join the Office of General Counsel at
Allmerica Financial Corporation in Worcester, Massachusetts,
where he will serve as legal counsel for the compliance and
distribution groups.  Mr. Adelman will leave the Commission in
early December.  A successor has not yet been named.

     SEC Enforcement Division Director Richard H. Walker said,
"Jim is a top-flight lawyer who has been an extraordinary public
servant.   He has spearheaded important enforcement actions in
numerous areas, ranging from insider trading to Internet fraud.
Throughout, his unbounded enthusiasm, intellect, and good
judgment have protected investors and bettered our markets. We
wish him the best and will miss him."

     Mr. Adelman, 45, became Associate District Administrator in
1998, upon returning to the Commission from private practice
where he was a partner in the Litigation Department of Choate,
Hall & Stewart in Boston, Massachusetts.  Before joining Choate,
Hall & Stewart, Mr. Adelman served as the Assistant District
Administrator for Enforcement in the Commission's Boston District
Office, after serving in various capacities in the Division of
Enforcement in Washington D.C.  Prior to his initial tenure at
the SEC, Mr. Adelman was a partner with the Virginia law firm of
Zweling, Mark, Ginsberg and Lieberman, P.C.
     
      During his nine-year tenure with the Commission, he
conducted and supervised a significant number of enforcement
initiatives, including, broker-dealer and investment adviser
misconduct, financial and accounting fraud, Internet fraud,
insider trading, and municipal securities matters.  Among many
others, he supervised the Commission's investigations involving:
(i) Scudder's failure to supervise unauthorized derivative
trading; (ii) soft dollar violations by Fleet Investment Advisers
and others; and (iii) municipal securities fraud by Mark Ferber
and violations of MSRB rules by Merrill Lynch and Lazard Freres.

     In announcing his plans to leave the Commission, Mr. Adelman
said, "I will always treasure my years at the Commission.  There
is no finer public agency.  The commitment, knowledge and
enthusiasm of my colleagues have made my tenure truly outstanding
and memorable in every respect.  I look forward to a similar
experience with Allmerica."

     Mr. Adelman earned his law degree with honors from The
American University, Washington College of Law.  He received his
undergraduate degree in Economics from Bucknell University.

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