UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

     LITIGATION RELEASE NO.  15770 / June 5, 1998

     UNITED STATES of AMERICA v. LEONARD E. FIESSEL, ROBERT L. SHULL, TERRY L.
     SHULL and PATRICK A. COLLINS, Cr. No. 98-10112-MLW (D. MA)
      
     The Commission and the United States Attorney for the District of
     Massachusetts announced that on June 3, 1998, Patrick A. Collins, a Boston
     area stock promoter, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and
     one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud for participating in a
     scheme to manipulate the market for Fairmont Resources, Inc. ( Fairmont ),
     a Canadian oil and gas company.  Collins, together with the majority
     shareholders of Fairmont, Robert Shull, Terry Shull and Leonard Fiessel,
     all of British Columbia, Canada, was indicted on April 8, 1998 in a 45-
     count indictment which charged the defendants with securities fraud,
     conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud.  Previously, the
     Commission had obtained permanent injunctions and orders to pay
     disgorgement against Patrick Collins, Leonard Fiessel, Robert Shull, and
     five others for their participation in the scheme. 

     The indictment alleged that after Leonard Fiessel and Robert Shull
     purchased a controlling interest in Fairmont, the defendants caused the
     price of the stock to increase from $.30 (Canadian) to $3.10 (Canadian) per
     share between January and June 1993 by (1) paying kickbacks totaling
     $540,000 to stockbrokers in the U.S. for inducing their customers to
     purchase more than one million shares of Fairmont stock, (2) creating the
     false appearance of an active market in Fairmont stock by buying and
     selling large quantities of the stock, including  wash sales  and  cross
     trades,  and (3) controlling the timing and pricing of certain transactions
     in Fairmont shares to ensure that the stock price would continue to rise. 
     The indictment also alleged that as a result of their manipulative
     activity, Leonard Fiessel, Robert Shull and Terry Shull sold large blocks
     of Fairmont stock at a substantial profit.  It further alleged that Collins
     received $132,000 in cash and stock in order to promote the sale of
     Fairmont to U.S. investors, and that he used some of that money to pay a
     Boston area stockbroker for selling Fairmont stock to his clients.

     In a complaint filed on August 31, 1994, the Commission alleged that
     Patrick Collins, Leonard Fiessel, Colleen Fiessel, Robert Shull and five
     U.S. stockbrokers -- Mark Hamel, Robert Raffa, William Cho, Jeffrey
     Fernandez, and Michael Murphy -- violated the antifraud and registration
     provisions of the federal securities laws.  Final judgments have been
     entered against all of the defendants in that action, and they have been
     ordered to disgorge over $2 million.

     For further information, see Litigation Release Nos. 14213, 14342, 14352,
     14441, 14809, 15021 and 15702.





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