UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

             LITIGATION RELEASE NO.   15868 /  September 2, 1998

             Securities and Exchange Commission v. Capital
             Acquisitions, Inc, Clealon B. Mann, Wayne C. Notwell,
             The Somerset Group, Inc., Laser Leasing, Inc., and Pete
             J. Buffo, Defendants; Surety Underwriters and Control
             Corp., Capitol Investment Partners, Inc., Spectrim
             International, Inc., Ute Cal Auto Sales, Inc., Best
             Rate Rent-A-Car, Inc., High-Line Medical Instruments,
             Inc., Genie Total Products, Inc., and Fund Line
             International, Inc., Relief Defendants, Civil Action
             No. 2:97-0977S (D. Utah)

             On September 2, 1998, the Securities and Exchange
             Commission filed an amended complaint in this pending
             civil action alleging that the defendants perpetrated a
             second Ponzi scheme, through a company called Laser
             Leasing, Inc. ("Laser Leasing"), in addition to the
             Ponzi scheme alleged in the initial complaint.  The
             amended complaint also added Pete J. Buffo ("Buffo"), a
             convicted felon, as a defendant and charged him with
             controlling both schemes.  The defendants allegedly
             raised $9 million in the Laser Leasing scheme in
             addition to the $24 million raised in the other scheme
             under the name Capital Acquisitions, Inc. ("Capital
             Acquisitions"). At the same time, Judge David Sam,
             Chief United States Judge for the District of Utah,
             granted the Commission's application for a receiver for
             Capital Acquisitions, and expanded the receivership to
             include Laser Leasing and other entities which are
             affiliated with the defendants.

             The original complaint, filed in December 1997, charged
             that Capital Acquisitions, Clealon B. Mann, Wayne C.
             Notwell, and The Somerset Group, Inc. defrauded
             investors by operating a Ponzi scheme, whereby funds
             raised from investors were used make interest payments
             to earlier investors, and by failing to disclose, among
             other things, excessive commissions.  The amended
             complaint makes similar charges against Laser Leasing,
             and names as relief defendants the following entities
             which allegedly received funds from investors in both
             alleged schemes: Surety Underwriters and Control Corp.,
             Capitol Investment Partners, Inc., Spectrim
             International, Inc., Ute Cal Auto Sales, Inc., Best
             Rate Rent-A-Car, Inc., High-Line Medical Instruments,
             Inc., Genie Total Products, Inc., and Fund Line
             International, Inc.  The relief defendants are all
             alleged to be affiliated with one or more of the
             individual defendants.

             Judge Sam appointed Robert G. Wing, a Salt Lake City
             attorney, as the receiver for Capital Acquisitions,
             Laser Leasing, and their affiliated entities, which
             include all Laser Leasing Limited Liability Companies,
             Laser Equipment, Inc., Fund Line International, Inc.,
             Capitol Investment Partners, Inc., Chaparral Petroleum,
             Inc., K&B Gas Company, Inc., Donna Lee Petroleum, Inc.,
             and Capital Kansas, Inc.  Mr. Wing previously had acted
             as a Court-appointed Special Agent in this matter, with
             powers to perform an accounting, among other things,
             for Capital Acquisitions.

             For further information on this case, please see
             Litigation releases 15670 (March 13, 1998) and 15601
             (December 23, 1997).